After being faced with jail time, a billionaire landlord who had defied a court order to tear down two unlawful penthouses renting for $1,000 each ultimately did so.
St Clements Court, a former care facility converted into 74 apartments, was purchased by Munjit Dulay’s business, MB Estates, in Leicester in 2012.
He ignored a court order requiring their demolition and constructed two penthouses on top of them in “flagrant violation” of his planning license, earning thousands of pounds in rent.
After a court threatened to activate Dulay, 55,’s four-month jail term, which had been delayed for six months following a trial at Leicester County Court in January, if the buildings remained, Dulay was eventually obliged to demolish the buildings by Sunday, July 17.
The proprietor of MB Estates is said to have a £33 million real estate empire and more than £1.7 million in cash on hand, according to testimony in court.
Dulay received a 12-month prison term and was sentenced to pay more than £146,000 in penalties and expenses in 2020 for serious fire safety violations that endangered lives in the same apartment building.
When Leicester City Council learned of the unpermitted flats on Fosse Lane in New Parks, they first sought their demolition by March 6, 2018, and a district judge granted them a court order requiring that they be taken down by May 2019.
The landlord continued to rent out the two penthouses despite making a promise to do so, earning an additional £450 per month for one and £600 per month for the other.
This has now been going on for a very long period, City Council barrister Jonathan Manning said in court earlier this year.
‘It’s not really suggested anything was done to comply with the injunction and it was only in August he accepted that he was going to have to demolish those properties at all.
‘The company has been renting the penthouses and stringing along the authority and the court while taking no steps to demolish the penthouses.
‘Mr Dulay and his company have never taken seriously the requirement to demolish the properties or comply with the order.’
Dulay said before the court that he hadn’t demolished the units because his attorneys had assured him they could win the planning clearance.
The municipality said that the flats would be demolished, and they were, after Judge Richard Hedley threatened Dulay with four months in prison.
Dulay paid the £4,129 in legal fees incurred by Leicester City Council, and MB Estates was also fined £25,000.
“Thanks to the efforts of council employees this case has now been handled and the owner has dismantled what was a very bad development, erected without planning approval in a clear infringement of planning control,” said Piara Singh Clair, deputy city mayor councillor.
The owner of the St. Clements Court apartments has run into legal issues before, so this is not the first time.
In 2020, Leicester Crown Court sentenced Dulay to a 12-month prison term with a 24-month suspension and ordered him to pay more than £146,000 in penalties and expenses for fire safety violations in the units.
These included a malfunctioning fire alarm system, ineffective smoke detectors, and inadequate fire escapes, which placed the lives of several renters in danger.
In 2017, the landlord paid a £400 internet firm to do a fire assessment but neglected to disclose the severity of the problems.
Dulay entered a guilty plea to six charges of endangering the lives or safety of tenants.
