Four landlords behind unsafe home in Kilburn banned from letting out properties in England for five years

Four rogue landlords have been banned from letting homes for five years after they were found to be renting out an unlicensed and unsafe property in Kilburn.

The number of landlord banning orders secured by Camden now stands at seven – the most secured by any local council.

The case comes after Camden’s environmental health team inspected a Victorian end-of-terrace building divided into 16 flats.

They discovered a defective fire alarm control panel and a disabled smoke alarm in one of the flats.

When they did a follow-up inspection at the building on Pandora Road last March, they found “a faulty and inoperative fire alarm system” and “leaks to a couple of the flats and problems with heating”.

Most of the flats that had been served with prohibition orders had been re-let to new occupiers.

“Overall, there was poor management of the property,” a tribunal heard.

The four landlords had each previously been fined £15,000 because they did not have licences to manage a house of multiple occupation.

Only 30-year-old Mohammed Ali Abbas Rasool participated in the tribunal case.

According to court documents, he said he ran 11 companies with a property portfolio of 120 apartments in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Camden.

According to the tribunal judgement, he claimed he rented to charities and to members of overseas royal families when they visit the UK for medical treatment.

He denied he was a residential landlord or property agent for the Hampstead building and said he had never been there or received rent for it.

Last year, the council obtained an anti-social behaviour order against Rasool over a property he owned in Kilburn, banning him from going near it until May.

It was the first order of its kind against a landlord in the country.

The other three landlords to be banned for five years from letting properties are Daya Ahmed Dayaaldeen, 64, Henna Mohamed Rashid, 65, and Talal Faliez Fahad Sagor Alenezi, 82.

The orders start in six months and ban the four men from letting property, engaging in letting agency work, and engaging in property management work in England for five years. If they breach these conditions, they could face up to 51 weeks in prison, a fine or a penalty of up to £31,000.

The tribunal also ordered the four landlords to pay £5,000 fines and said: “There has been no evidence of contrition.”

Tribunal chair H C Bowers said: “It is also important that the orders have a real deterrent effect, both on the respondents and on other landlords.”

In 2019, Camden was the first council in London to get a landlord banning order to prevent a rogue landlord from letting homes or doing letting agency or property management work for four years.

Speaking after this latest case, Cllr Meric Apak,  Camden’s cabinet member for better homes, said: “Around a third of Camden residents rent from private landlords and they deserve to live in properly regulated, safe homes and to be treated fairly.”

He added: “The legal action taken in this case was a necessary last resort. Our message to landlords and letting agents is that we are here to work with you; to provide advice and assistance first of all and to ensure you can meet your obligations.”