Jas Athwal must be investigated

It appears Council Officers and Cllr Rai have conspired to stop council officers doing their duty by inspecting Cllr Athwal's flats when the BBC story broke earlier this year. The Council could end the speculation on this by publishing the inspection reports, but this has not been done. If the Council had done their job and sent their inspectors to Cllr Athwal's flats then it may have led to a fine for Cllr Athwal and him having the Labour whip removed. A criminal charge of misconduct in public office for failing to send council officers to Cllr Athwal's flats requires a high bar. Hence I am pursuing Council guidelines that say Cllr Athwal's flats should have been investigated. Cllr Rai says no such internal guidance is given to staff. I am not sure that this is correct and I am pursuing a freedom of information request for induction training given to staff and I will report back in due course. I expect the induction training to show that staff are instructed to inspe...

The campaign needs to present evidence to the police that the council have been so negligent in their duties that a prosecution would be likely to succeed. The three people that come to mind initially are Cllr Kam Rai, the Leader of the Council, the monitoring officer and the Chief Executive. Alleged Motive On the face of it, Jas Athwal not having a landlord licence/s and the sub-standard condition of his flats as uncovered by Andrew Boff AM and Joe Pike of the BBC suggest a fine should have been issued to Jas Athwal and/or his managing agent by now. The case that appears a precedent is at https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/19502119.landlord-wins-court-battle-redbridge-council-fine/#:~:text=On%20July%2029%2C%20Judge%20Martin,should%20be%20given%20a%20warning . The case involved Irene Ekweozoh appealing against a £2500 given by Redbridge Council for not having a landlord licence. The judge granted the appeal for three reasons: The landlord was out of the country and ha...

Great News Cllr Rosa Gomez is supporting the campaign A big step forward for the campaign. Rosa is supporting the petition below:   "We the undersigned who live or work in Redbridge call on the Council to investigate Jas Athwal MP for not holding a landlord licence along with his managing agent. We also call for the investigation to consider the substandard state of Jas Athwal's flats and his refusal to let to DSS tenants."   I hope we can other elected representatives and parties on board with a view to a launch photoshoot outside the Town Hall which could be linked to the freedom of information below.   We seek using the environmental regulations or freedom of information laws the following: Emails from the Redbridge Property Licencing team about whether Jas Athwal should be prosecuted foe not holding a landlord licence Any emails from the Redbridge Property Licencing team about whether Jas Athwal would be investigated for refusing to let to DSS tenants. The final inves...

 Redbridge Council have published a guide on when to fine landlords for sub-standard rental properties it called "Private Sector Enforcement Policy" The guidance is at  Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy I guide above is silent about the penalty for not holding a landlord licence, which Jas Athwal has admitted at a BBC site. I quote  "The Labour MP also admitted that his flats did not have the correct property licences under a scheme he introduced as the leader of Redbridge Council." (1) However the Redbridge Council website is explicit that not to have to a landlord licence is an offence I quote (2)  "Penalties for not having a Licence  Operating a rented property without a licence is an offence. The Council can issue you with a Financial Penalty of up to £30,000 or if prosecuted in court the fine can be unlimited. Additionally, tenants in a unlicensed property can reclaim from you up to 12 months’ rent through a Rent Repayment Order (RRO)...

  Dear Councillors   On the 26 th October I sent a video message to Cllr Rai asking him to overrule his monitoring officer and say whether an investigation has taken place into Jas Athwal MP not having a landlord licence and the substandard condition of the flats mentioned in a recent BBC new article. Cllr Rai has ignored my request.   There maybe grounds for misconduct in public office case for officers refusing to investigate Cllr Athwal, but before going to the police it must be right to make every effort to persuade the Council to order an investigation. A draft of a 1500 signature petition to the Council calling upon them to investigate Cllr Athwal is below:   "We the undersigned who live or work in Redbridge call on the Council to investigate Jas Athwal MP for not holding a landlord licence along with his managing agent. We also call for the investigation to consider the substandard state of Jas Athwal's flats and his refusal to let to DSS tenants." If any ele...