A notorious Govanhill landlord who had been blocked from renting flats used different spellings of his name to get around the ban.
Mohammad Nawaz had been letting properties unlawfully before applying for landlord registration with the council in 2020.
READ MORE: More Glasgow council workers back strike action over equal pay
He was added to the register but has now been struck off after it emerged he had been stopped, as Mohammed Nawaz, in 2012.
The landlord is named Nawaz Mohammed on the land registry for a property he owns at 72 Westmoreland Street, Govanhill — which the council plans to compulsory purchase due to its condition.
He has also racked up a council tax debt of almost £26,500.
A council officer said: “The landlord is found to have used three different spellings of his name, despite having declared on the most recent application of October 2020 that he has not been known by any other names.
“The other names he has been known by are Mohammed Nawaz and Nawaz Mohammed.”
Back in 2012, Mr Nawaz was found to own eight South Side flats but was blocked from the private landlord register by the council’s head of housing due to several concerns.
These included the standard of his properties, debts owed to the council, his failure to declare a relevant conviction for dishonesty, acting as a landlord without being registered and using different dates of birth.
Mr Nawaz applied to join the register for a flat at 500 Victoria Road in October 2020 and was approved.
However, reporting to the licensing committee, a council officer said the landlord had been letting flat 0/2 55 Daisy Street since April 2015 and flat 1/1 21 Garturk Street since October 2020.
The flat at 2/1 Westmoreland Street is “currently closed following the issuing of a closing order”. “The property was occupied at the time despite the landlord having been unregistered,” the council officer said.
“The landlord failed to declare that he had been refused entry to the register of private landlords in 2012.”
That flat “failed the tolerable standard, which is the minimum standard living accommodation must meet”.
Councillors agreed in January to pursue a compulsory purchase order for the property, which would then be taken over by Govanhill Housing Association and used as social housing.
A report at the time stated: “No repairs have been carried out since the closing order was served. The council had to secure the flat in November 2018 to prevent illegal occupation.
“Govanhill Housing Association has offered to purchase the flat on a voluntary basis, but the owner has refused to sell.”
Glasgow’s licensing committee agreed to strike off Mr Nawaz at a meeting on Wednesday.
All private landlords must register with the council to ensure they are a “fit and proper person” to let property and it is an offence to let a house without being registered.
