Mother and son Sohila and Pedram Tamiz ordered masked gangs to threaten and attack their tenants (Picture: SWNS)
A pair of ‘cruel and manipulative’ landlords who used violence, vandalism and theft to illegally evict tenants during a decade of abuse have been jailed for more than nine years.
Mum Sohila, 66, and son Pedram Tamiz, 47, ordered masked gangs to threaten and attack their tenants, trash their homes and change the locks.
They tormented 10 victims who all lived at a converted hotel containing 26 flats in Margate between 2011 and last year.
The tenants were routinely threatened and evicted without notice and had their belongings removed or thrown out into the street.
Other families were forced to live in cold, dark conditions after having their power cut off.
One victim, Carl Hopkins, had a balaclava-clad gang burst through his door, douse him in petrol and knock three of his teeth out.
The next day he found his locks had been changed and he was forced to live in an abandoned caravan.
Anke Angelova had to huddle with her children around a kitchen stove for warmth because her power and water were cut off for a month and a half.
She also had her flooring ‘completely destroyed’ before they were kicked out with nowhere else to go.
Sohila Tamiz was jailed for five years (Picture: Thanet District Council/SWNS)
Pedram Tamiz was jailed for four years and two months (Picture: Thanet District Council/SWNS)
Grandmother Julie Box Beaumont said men with balaclavas threatened her and ex-army veteran Stephen Dale when they fell behind with rent.
Her electricity was shut off and they fled without their belongings, leaving behind Mr Dale’s SAS medals.
At Canterbury Crown Court, where the landlords were tried in what is believed to be the largest prosecution of its kind, Ms Beaumont said: ‘I wasn’t scared, I was absolutely petrified, and I’m still having nightmares about it to this day.’
During the trial, Jennifer Duffey said she was falsely accused of bringing a bag of white powder into the building.
She told jurors two men had demanded undue rent while shouting and screaming before removing the lock from her front door.
Ms Duffey described smearing shampoo on the floor so intruders would slip if they entered the property and said one day, she returned to find her belongings and furniture had disappeared.
Sohila had also taken a key from another tenant, Hayley Griffiths, and sabotaged her electricity supply.
Prosecutor Michael Polak said she had also conspired to damage the toilet and acted ‘in a menacing manner, demanding [the tenants] leave’.
Giving evidence, Sohila denied any wrongdoing, saying ‘we are not crazy people’ and insisted the atmosphere in her buildings was ‘very nice’.
Judge Rupert Lowe branded the duo, of Lenham, Kent, ‘cruel and manipulative landlords with no humanity’ and without ‘a scintilla of remorse’.
Sohila was convicted of 14 counts including conspiracy to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier, conspiracy to unlawfully evict and conspiracy to burgle and jailed for five years.
Pedram was jailed for four years and two months after being convicted on seven counts including conspiracy to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier and conspiracy to unlawfully evict.
Both were acquitted on two other counts relating to illegal evictions.
Two associates, Adam McChesney, 40, and Kasem El Darrat, 53, were also convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully evict.
But they were spared jail as Judge Lowe said they played lesser roles in the landlords’ criminality.
Adam McChesney was also convicted (Credits: Thanet District Council/SWNS)
As was Kasem El Darrat (Picture: Thanet District Council/SWNS)
McChesney, of Margate, was given 20 months suspended for two years and 250 hours unpaid work.
He was convicted on five counts including conspiracy to interfere with the peace or comfort of the residential occupier but was acquitted of conspiracy to burgle.
El Darrat, also of Margate, received a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work and 15 probation activity requirement days.
He was convicted of conspiracy to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier and conspiracy to unlawfully evict.
Judge Lowe handed down a criminal behaviour order designed to prevent Sohila and Pedram from acting as landlords.
He also ordered compensation worth £30,500 to be paid to the victims and £200,000 in costs to go to Thanet District Council, which brought the case.
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Sohila and Pedram Tamiz tormented 10 victims who all lived at a converted hotel containing 26 flats in Margate between 2011 and last year.