Zein Mortada, 52, of Uxendon Hill, Wembley, was fined £10,000 at Harrow Crown Court in September 2012 after admitting two counts of failing to comply with an enforcement notice that required him to return the semi-detached Wembley Hill Road property back into a single family home.

He later agreed to pay £105,000 during confiscation proceedings brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act - but applied to the High Court to have this sum quashed.

Hearing the case on Thursday, Mr Justice Griffith Williams, sitting with Lord Justice Aikens and Judge Melbourne Inman QC, said: “This was a tactical decision on Mortada’s part to enter into a consent order - there are no arguable grounds for now seeking to go behind that consent order.”

“For all these reasons, this renewed application is dismissed.”

Mortada had developed the single property into six flats without the necessary planning consent.

He sold one and rented out the remainder, and failed to comply with a Brent Council enforcement notice for the restoration of the property into a single dwelling.

In the wake of his guilty pleas in 2012, Mortada agreed to an assessment of his benefit from the criminal conduct as £147,600, with his available assets - comprising equity from three north London properties - set at £105,009.

His lawyers told the High Court Mortada only agreed to the compromise because he mistakenly believed the bill would be covered by an insurance policy.

It was argued that £35,000’s worth of equity in Mortada’s matrimonial home should not have counted towards his assets as it was actually registered in his wife’s name.

But the Mr Justice Williams said Mortada was “fortunate” prosecutors had accepted such a low figure for confiscation.

Mortada was granted planning permission in 2004 for the construction of a part single and part two-storey side extension, single-storey rear extension, rear dormer window extension and installation of a front roof-light to the house.

One of the six flats was reportedly sold in November 2007 for £245,000.

In March 2013, Mortada was granted permission by the council to convert the property into three flats.