Rogue Bradford landlord who sent council AI image of smoke alarm fined
He'll have to pay over ÂŁ11,000
A ROGUE landlord used an AI image to try to trick Council officers who were investigating safety issues at one of his unauthorised HMOs.
Mindaugas Palaima had sent Bradford Council officers a photograph that seemed to show he had fitted a smoke alarm to the ceiling of one of his properties.
But when officers visited the property the next day, they found that no alarms had been installed, and deduced that Palaima’s image was AI generated.
On Friday at Bradford Magistrates Court Palaima, 44, of Silver Royd Terrace in Leeds was found guilty of a number of offences in his absence, and was ordered to pay over ÂŁ11,218.
The court heard that Palaima had rented two properties in Bradford and converted them into HMOs without the permission of the building owners.
He had also failed to apply for an HMO licence from Bradford Council before running the properties under the company name Instyle Aviation.
Palaima had been charged with 10 offences relating to 18 Fairfax Avenue and 9 Norwood Street.
He did not appear at court on Friday, and the case was heard in his absence.
Charges include running an HMO without a licence, failing to fit smoke alarms and failing to maintain the HMOs. All the charges related to a period of several weeks in 2025.
Imran Hussain, prosecuting on behalf of Bradford Council, told the court that last May the Council had received a complaint that 18 Fairfax Avenue was being used as an unauthorised five-bedroom HMO.
He said: “The owner had leased the premises to the defendant who had gone on to sub let the premises to other individuals without telling the owner.”
Magistrates were told that the tenants were all unrelated, with Mr Hussain adding: “It met the definition of a licensable HMO, but there was no record of an HMO licence ever being issued.”
Tenants paid their rent to a company called Instyle Aviation, which has Palaima listed as the sole director.
Despite the name, Companies House says Instyle Aviation specialised in take-away food shops and resident’s property management.
Officers inspected the property shortly after, and found that some rooms had no fire escape windows no fire doors and no fire detection systems. Mr Hussain said: “This caused an imminent risk of serious harm. Due to this risk an emergency prohibition order was served ordering him to immediately install smoke alarms.
“The defendant agreed to do this that very day.
“He joked that he could just send the officer an AI generated image. The officer said he should be taking this extremely seriously.
“He later sent photos purporting to show a smoke detector where there was previously no smoke detector.
“The image was believed to be AI generated.
“He sent that image showing a smoke detector on the ceiling on October 27 at 10.30pm. The following day at 11:30am officers re-visited the property and saw there was no smoke detector on the ceiling – confirming their suspicion that this was an AI image.
“The fire safety risks were just too high and an emergency prohibition notice was served on the property.”
Referring to the ownership of the property, Mr Hussain said: “The previous owner let the property to the defendant on the understanding that he would live there with his family.
“The latest owner purchased the property a year ago, and had ongoing issues with the defendant.
“The defendant showed a flagrant disregard for safety by presenting an AI image of smoke alarms.”
Other charges related to a property 9 Norwood Street, which had also been converted into an HMO without a licence.
The property was inspected in September and a number of fire safety issues were identified, including a lack of smoke alarms.
Like with the other property, the house had been leased to Palaima, who leased it to other individuals without the owner’s knowledge.
A follow up inspection was held several days later, and this identified further defects.
Mr Hussain said: Improvement notices were served but there is no evidence they were complied with.”
After some deliberation Magistrates found Palaima guilty in his absence.
They fined him ÂŁ2,640 for each property, and ordered him to pay ÂŁ3,938 costs to Bradford Council. He will also have to pay a ÂŁ2,000 court surcharge.
In total he will be required to pay ÂŁ11,218.
The court was told that Instyle Aviation was dissolved in June 2025.