Ms Brenda Nielson – 03/05/2023
Rikal, Hathon, Novella Islands
Novellan National News Service
Seven-and-a-half years corvée for convicted profiteering landlord
A man in Rikal, Hathon, has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years of corvée, after being found guilty of leasing a property for profit, and of filing incorrect or misleading official documentation.
Mr Miles Lindon was brought before the courts after it was discovered he had been renting out his spare apartment in the middle of Rikal for the past three years, and subsequently misstating the occupancy status of the property to the Novella Islands Taxation Office. The crime of filing incorrect or misleading official documentation – the lesser charge to filing falsified official documentation – was levied in the alternative, after the evidentiary requirement for the greater charge was not met.
While owning multiple properties is not against the law, every property in addition to an individual’s primary place of residence incurs a hefty taxation under the Idle Assets Taxation Scheme. However, charging above maintenance and taxation costs for a property, or above the set price caps for a given locality, is an offence under the Crimes Act.
In sentencing Mr Lindon, Justice Tayla Albert stated, ”The penalty must be fit for purpose, in that it is both rehabilitative and dissuasionary. Mr Lindon has caused a property that could have been the permanent home for the average 2.5 person family, to instead go occupied for three years, all for his own personal profit. He will now restore our society for the seven-and-a-half years he has cost us.”
The renters – three undergraduate students at the Novellan Institute of Science and Technology – were each issued with official reprimands, for soliciting an outlawed service, and for filing incorrect or misleading official documentation.
Mr Lindon is expected to be put to work as an accountant within the Ministry of the Treasury, given his training and professional expertise. He will work a four-day week on the national base wage, as is typical for contemporary corvée sentencing.
