Rogue landlord used AI to fake smoke detector

A rogue landlord used AI to try to trick a council into believing he had installed a smoke detector in a house he was subletting.

Mindaugas Palaima was being investigated by Bradford Council over safety issues at one of his unauthorised rental properties - but when they visited it, no smoke alarm was fitted and officers realised he had used a fake AI-generated image of one.

Bradford Magistrates' Court heard he had rented two properties and converted them into House in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) without the permission of the building owners.

Palaima was found guilty of charges including running a HMO without a licence and failing to fit smoke alarms and was ordered to pay more than £11,218.

Palaima, 44, of Silver Royd Terrace, Wortley, Leeds, was not present at the hearing on Friday.

All the charges related to a period of several weeks in 2025, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) heard in court.

Palaima had been charged with 10 offences relating to 18 Fairfax Avenue and 9 Norwood Street.

He did not own either building and was a tenant himself when he converted them into shared houses.

He failed to apply for a HMO licence from Bradford Council before running the properties under the company name Instyle Aviation.

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 sublet the premises to other individuals without telling the owner."

Magistrates were told that the tenants were all unrelated, with 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 Instyle Aviation, which has Palaima listed as the sole director.

Despite the name, Companies House says Instyle Aviation specialised in takeaway food shops and residential 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.

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 27 October 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, 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 9 Norwood Street, which had also been converted into a 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.

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.

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 £2,640 for each property, and ordered him to pay £3,938 costs to Bradford Council. He will also have to pay a £2,000 court surcharge.

In total he will be required to pay £11,218.

The court was told that Instyle Aviation was dissolved in June 2025.

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