A landlord and the property management company he runs have been found guilty over unsafe conditions at an HMO – but their fines have been slashed dramatically.

Landlord Mohammed Rasool and his company Blackstone Properties Management Limited were each convicted of eight charges – managing an unlicensed house in multiple occupation, failing to comply with an improvement notice, and six breaches of HMO management regulations.

The case was retired at City of London Magistrates’ Court after the defendant challenged the original proceedings from 2023,.

It related to a property at Hyde Park Gate, which had been converted from four bedrooms into 22 rooms and was being used as an HMO.

Kensington and Chelsea council officers first visited the property in August 2021, and the court heard that it was being operated without the required HMO licence and that tenants were living with serious fire, health and safety risks.

The original case was heard in 2023, when Rasool and Blackstone Properties Management Limited were fined a total of £480,000 plus costs. 

The case was later reheard after Rasool challenged the fairness of the original proceedings.

Following the retrial, Blackstone Properties Management Limited was fined £20,000 for managing an HMO without a licence and £10,000 for failing to comply with an improvement notice. 

Rasool was fined £12,500 for managing an HMO without a licence and £7,500 for failing to comply with an improvement notice. 

The remaining HMO management regulation breaches were treated as aggravating factors.

A council spokesperson says: “Mr Rasool and Blackstone Properties Management Limited were given opportunities to put things right, but the court found they chose not to. 

“We will continue to take action where landlords fail to follow the rules, because everyone in Kensington and Chelsea deserves a safe place to live.”

The council, in a statement, says: “Tenants were cooking in their room using camping-style facilities without proper kitchen facilities, and there was rising damp and mould growth throughout the property as well as single glazed windows with rotten frames, draughts and broken sashes. The inside of the property was so damp that mushrooms were growing in upper floors.”