A landlord couple tried to wriggle out of paying for an HMO licence using an “entirely bogus defence” that their four tenants were blood related, it has been revealed.
However, a First Tier Property Tribunal judge ordered Faqrudin Musa Vali and Tasneem Intiaz Valli to pay a £17,640 Rent Repayment Order after rejecting their argument that the house in Osborne Road (pictured) in Forest Gate, East London, didn’t need an HMO licence between February 2021 and October 2024.
At the hearing, Sajid Vali, Faqrudin Musa Vali’s brother and boss of Claremont Estates who managed the four-bedroom house, said it had sought to ensure it was let to a single household who were blood related.
The property had been licenced under Newham Council’s selective licensing scheme and each time there was a change of tenant, Claremont checked their immigration status.
"It was only too apparent from the backgrounds of the tenants and the proof of identity that they provided, that they were not blood related.
The judge said it was only too apparent from the backgrounds of the tenants and the proof of identity that they provided, that they were not blood related.
He added: “The only inference that the tribunal can draw is that the respondents have fabricated this version of events because they knew that they were in breach of the law.
"The respondents recognised that they could secure a higher rent by letting the house to four young professionals than by letting it to a family. However, they were not willing to pay the additional costs that would arise were they to register it as an HMO.”
In July 2024, the tenants were served with a Section 21 notice, stating the house was being occupied by ‘unpermitted occupiers’ and they left in October 2024.
“We do not accept this evidence,” said the judge. “It is only after this application was issued, that the respondents felt that it was necessary to put forward their entirely bogus defence that the tenants were blood related and asserted that they were bad tenants.”
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