Real truth behind the Siddharth Mahajan property case

This article has been reblogged from the ventsmagazine.com article written by RJ Frometa.

Siddharth Mahajan, a real estate entrepreneur and the owner of Tulip Hotels and Real Estate Ltd, was accused of forging documents and not complying with the regulations pertaining to ‘House in Multiple Occupation’. Though tens of allegations flew around as to how Mahajan was not a law-abiding citizen and how he has been taking the laws of the land for granted and using them to his advantage, the truth remains buried under the fact that he is innocent.

Did Siddharth really cross the line drawn by the laws of the land? What is the Siddharth Mahajan property case and was he arrested for his alleged crimes? Read on to know more about the real picture.

Siddharth, a self-made man

Siddharth is a self-made entrepreneur with an educational background in the hospitality sector. He set his first step into the hospitality industry after completing his Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management from the Oriental School of Hotel Management.

He worked for three years in the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur and then flew to London with big dreams — Dreams of revolutionizing the hospitality sector. After short stints at various places, he started his own venture Tulip Hotels and Real Estate Ltd, which was woven around a new idea of providing stay options for travelers, but with a touch of home. His business soon picked up due to sheer quality and today Tulip has 57 properties offering a world-class experience to travelers from across the world. Siddharth also, meanwhile, became a budding entrepreneur worth 14 million Pounds in net-worth and 47 million British Pounds in assets.

What is the House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)?

It was a novel idea conceived by Siddharth Mahajan to let different rooms in a house on rent to different people, more or less like a serviced apartment. The target clientele were corporate guests, overseas students who came to the city on exchange programs or internships, etc. With this idea in mind, Mahajan founded Tulip Real Estate Ltd and as a first step into the business, he converted five of his own properties into HMOs and let them out on rent.

As the business grew on the good name and excellent service, Siddharth Mahajan leased out several properties to run his business. As on date, Siddharth has 57 properties in his HMO business of which seven are registered under his own name and 47 under the name of Tulip Hotels. If this is all going as per his plan, what was the Siddharth Mahajan property case?

The Case Background

In 2015, Siddharth received a notice from Barking and Dagenham Borough, a locality in East London, that three of his properties did not have appropriate licenses and were illegal. These three properties were let out as HMOs with six rooms each.

Siddharth explained to the authorities that all three properties had the required permissions and that at the time of licensing he was not informed by the concerned authorities about the need to submit plans for the HMOs. The local authority of the borough stated that the legal requirement to submit plans were introduced in the year 2012. Siddharth, however, contested that he had obtained the licenses in

2014, and if it submission of plans for the HMOs were needed, he would have definitely been apprised of the same by the concerned officials. He also questioned why was he allotted licenses to run his HMOs if he had not submitted all the necessary documents.

While the borough authorities told him that there were two departments concerned with licensing HMOs, Siddharth agreed that he knew about it and it was acquired knowledge which he himself learned from various sources as his business evolved bigger. However, the authorities, dissatisfied with these explanations, leveled foul play allegations against him.

Was Siddharth Mahajan convicted?

Out of the three properties in conflict, one HMO received a clean chit from the authorities. And since Siddharth was initially advised against speaking about the case outside, there was a multitude of allegations thrown around him with him not getting a chance to defend them.

During the probe on the remaining two properties, Siddharth Mahajan also mentioned how he has been unfairly given the tenancy rights, though the properties under question were in use before these allegations came up. In essence, he pleaded that he was being made a scapegoat for someone else’s errors. Of the 18 charges placed on him by the authorities, only two were taken forward and he was convicted of perverting the course of justice. The remaining 16 charges did not hold due to a complete lack of evidence. Siddharth is, meanwhile, sure that the remaining two will also be taken off since he is clear in his conscience of the integrity and honesty in his business.

How Siddharth is a fighter

During the hearing, the authorities imposed restrictions on his business. However, Siddharth being a natural fighter, took up a journalism course and also started teaching mathematics, keeping himself occupied. This shows his positive outlook towards life and how he is ready to move forward, despite false cases being hoisted on him to bring his morale down. So​was Siddharth Mahajan arrested? No. Since the police could not find anything out of the ordinary or even suspicious, they did not arrest him. His cases, meanwhile, are in the court.

Amidst all the odds, Siddharth is sure that the court of law will grant justice to him and that he will get back to his business and make it thrive like the good old days.