Five months after a fire ripped through his Sydney property and left more than a dozen foreign students who had been living in squalor homeless, property owner Masaaki Imaeda sold the industrial lot for $4 million.

Now, he faces losing a chunk of those plump earnings.

Masaaki Imaeda talks with police at Alexandria in July 2014. Credit:Peter Rae

Following a more than 18-month-long council investigation, Mr Imaeda has been charged over using his industrial lot in Alexandria as a makeshift housing complex - with decrepit caravans, shipping containers and a rundown bus - against land use conditions.

Fire engulfed the 56-year-old's Burrows Rd property in July 2014, almost killing the 15 Japanese, Korean and New Zealand nationals who were renting a spot on the industrial site.