King Charles III has cancelled Nirpal Singh Riat's OBE following his housing offences. The rare forfeiture underscores accountability within Britain's honours system.Image used for representational purposes onlyLondon,Oct 22, 2026 15:42 ISTKing Charles III has stripped London-based British Indian landlord Nirpal Singh Riat of his royal honour after he was fined for renting out damp and squalid accommodation, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Riat, who received an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honour from the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for "services to charity and to the Punjabi people", was found to have brought the honours system into disrepute.His name appeared on an updated list issued by the UK Cabinet Office this month of people whose honours have been cancelled."The King has directed that the appointment of Nirpal Singh Riat to be an Officer of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 31 December 2010, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order," the Cabinet Office statement said.
Riat, who is now in his 70s, denies some of the allegations against him, describing them as "fabricated". He was labelled a rogue landlord after details of his business emerged in court about three years ago.According to local media reports cited by PTI, Riat was fined £300,000, or around Rs 3.8 crore, in one of the biggest such penalties in west London.
He had illegally converted houses into flats and rented outbuildings to vulnerable people who were forced to live in "terrible conditions". There were also reports of an earlier fine over an illegal property conversion.
The decision to strip Riat of his honour came after a local councillor in Hounslow raised the matter with the Honours Forfeiture Committee. The committee, which operates under the UK Cabinet Office, reviews cases in which a person may have brought the honours system into disrepute.The cancellation of a royal honour is rare.
A similar decision was taken against Indian-origin businessman Lord Rami Ranger in 2024. Ranger was stripped of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) honour awarded by the late Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year Honours list of December 2015 for services to British business and the Asian community.
The committee found that he had brought the honours system into disrepute.Ranger challenged the decision in court and earlier this month secured the right to a judicial review. His legal team is expected to argue at a full hearing in the coming months that the decision to strip him of the CBE was disproportionate and that due process was not followed.
In the UK honours system, a CBE ranks higher than an OBE.Riat's OBE has therefore been cancelled and his name removed from the order's register following the fine over his rental properties and the finding that his conduct had brought the honours system into disrepute.With PTI Inputs- Ends