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A landlord in central London has been fined £50,000 for letting out a Grade II listed property without a licence and with such bad damp, mushrooms were growing through the floorboards.
Kensington and Chelsea Council revealed it has successfully prosecuted the landlord after a six year long investigation and court battle.
The local authority found Mohammed Rasool and Blackstone Properties Management Ltd - of which Mr Rasool is also a director - guilty of letting a property with 'unsafe conditions.'
The property in question is a house of multiple occupation (HMO) in Hyde Park Gate just south of Hyde Park - houses along the same road can fetch as much as £20million.
Mohammed Rasool and his management company were each convicted of all eight charges brought against them following a retrial at City of London Magistrates' Court on Monday 29 June.
The charges included managing an unlicensed house in multiple occupation, failing to comply with an improvement notice, and six breaches of HMO management regulations.
Hidden among the best: The property was a house of multiple occupation (HMO) in Hyde Park Gate just south of Hyde Park - houses along the same road can fetch as much as £20m
An HMO is typically when a property has at least three tenants living in a property forming more than one household and if the toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities are shared.
The general rule is that an HMO must have a licence if it is occupied by five or more people.
However, many individual councils require one if there are three or more tenants - as is the case with Kensington and Chelsea.
HMO licences typically require landlords to conform to additional regulations, fire safety measures and minimum room sizes.
Kensington and Chelsea charge £1,004 on application, an extra £489 on approval and then £72 per additional room.
Mr Rasool's property at 36 Hyde Park Gate, which is listed on the National Heritage List for England as Grade II, had been converted from four bedrooms into 22 rooms, according to the Council.
The property shows no past record on the Land Registry of being sold, nor does it on Zoopla.
The investigation into the property began following a complaint from a tenant back in 2020 and uncovered that the landlord was unlicensed to operate the 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.
Council officers first visited the property in August 2021, and the court heard they discovered tenants were living with serious fire, health and safety risks.
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 equipment 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, according to the Council's statement.
Mushrooms: The 36 Hyde Park Gate property, pictured, had a room with such bad mould, fungi were growing
Councillor Johnny Thalassites, lead member for resident services, planning and enforcement for Kensington and Chelsea Council said: '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.'
At sentencing on Tuesday 30 June 2026, the court fined Blackstone Properties Management Limited £30,000 plus full prosecution costs of £12,176.68. Mr Rasool was fined £20,000.