A landlord and property management company have been fined a combined £50,000 over an unlicensed HMO that had such significant damp problems, mushrooms were growing within.
Kensington and Chelsea Council led the prosecution against Mohammed Rasool and Blackstone Properties Management Ltd, with charges of breathing HMO rules.
They were each convicted of six breaches of HMO management regulations, managing an unlicensed house in multiple occupation and failing to comply with an improvement notice.
This followed a retrial at City of London Magistrates’ Court after the defendant challenged the original proceedings from 2023.
The case centred on a property on Hyde Park Gate which had been converted from four bedrooms into 22 rooms.
Council officers first visited the property in 2021 and found that tenants were living with serious fire, health and safety risks. There was also no licence in place to operate the property as an HMO.
Despite repeated warnings, the landlord did not apply for a licence and the council eventually visited with the Met Police and London Fire Brigade.
Officers found defective and damaged fire doors, inadequate fire separation between bedrooms and lack of fire safety protection in the boiler room or lobby, covered fire alarms and burnt out and loose electrical sockets.
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. Mushrooms were even growing in the upper floors.
At sentencing on 30th June 2026, the court fined Blackstone Properties Management Limited £30,000 plus full prosecution costs of £12,176.68. Rasool was fined £20,000.
“Mr Rasool and Blackstone Properties Management Limited were given opportunities to put things right, but the court found they chose not to,” said councillor Johnny Thalassites, lead member for resident services, planning and enforcement at Kensington and Chelsea Council.
“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.”
