Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Coming Soon to a House Near You?
I have been made aware that the Ladder appears to be in the midst of something of an renewed onslaught by developers who are turning houses into multiple occupation properties.
What's the Problem?
All local communities, as communities, want to be sustainable. A key factor in a population’s ability to be sustainable is its willingness and ability to sustain that community. This means a longer-term commitment to an area. HMOs are usually associated with transience. Transient populations are far less likely to have regard to the longer term well-being of an area.
There are also more immediate effects usually experienced by residents live around HMOs. Many of the HMOs in Harringay are established without planning permission and licensing. This often means poor conditions. This in itself is undesirable. In some instances it also means that houses become occupied with groups of people who are far from model neighbours.
An HMO in Warham Road recently hit the headlines when its owner was in court facing charges of running a brothel with women kept as prostitutes against their will. Another HMO became a hangout for local and West End pickpockets. Not every HMO will suffer this fate, but enough do for residents to become uncomfortable.
What's the Solution?
The LCSP are working against the situation. In July last year they produced a blueprint for the council to tackle the issue. However on the ground there are constraints arising from the law and the willingness or ability of Haringey Council to impose and enforce action.
What can you Do?
You should stay aware of what's happening in your street. Sudden intense building activity, sometimes preceded by apparently innocuous planning applications can mean conversion work is going on. This can be reported to Haringey's Planning Enforcement Department at 0208 489 5123/8236. You may well need to keep on top of a case once reported.
What's the Problem?
All local communities, as communities, want to be sustainable. A key factor in a population’s ability to be sustainable is its willingness and ability to sustain that community. This means a longer-term commitment to an area. HMOs are usually associated with transience. Transient populations are far less likely to have regard to the longer term well-being of an area.
There are also more immediate effects usually experienced by residents live around HMOs. Many of the HMOs in Harringay are established without planning permission and licensing. This often means poor conditions. This in itself is undesirable. In some instances it also means that houses become occupied with groups of people who are far from model neighbours.
An HMO in Warham Road recently hit the headlines when its owner was in court facing charges of running a brothel with women kept as prostitutes against their will. Another HMO became a hangout for local and West End pickpockets. Not every HMO will suffer this fate, but enough do for residents to become uncomfortable.
What's the Solution?
The LCSP are working against the situation. In July last year they produced a blueprint for the council to tackle the issue. However on the ground there are constraints arising from the law and the willingness or ability of Haringey Council to impose and enforce action.
What can you Do?
You should stay aware of what's happening in your street. Sudden intense building activity, sometimes preceded by apparently innocuous planning applications can mean conversion work is going on. This can be reported to Haringey's Planning Enforcement Department at 0208 489 5123/8236. You may well need to keep on top of a case once reported.
Tags for Forum Posts: Wightman Road, hmos, housing, ladder, planning
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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I'll email you with a name and a number to call. We have to get this house dealt with, I refuse to be woken up on a regular basis! ARGHHHH! We would never have bought our house had we known we had that rat hole on the other side of the road.
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Permalink Reply by Harringay SNT on
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I doubt they all have bells so our figures will be conservative
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Alison beat me to this, but it is certain that there are many houses which are simply shared without separate front door bells and I personally have been in houses where there are two adults sharing each double room thus a house that has five rooms available based on the normal layout of a Ladder/Garden house (2 downstairs and three upstairs rooms with the kitchen as the shared space) could have 10 adults in it as was the case with a house I was shown around in Kimberley gardens while house hunting.
This is serious overcrowding and has knock on effects for the amount of rubbish that is generated both daily and when occupants move out (hence the number of mattresses that appear in all sorts of odd places as well as the odd sofa like the one currently sitting by Harringay passage-reported). Also while we cannot say that every shared house is a hotbed of crime and disorder it is certainly becomes more likely that anti social behaviour will become a problem for its neighbours.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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There's obviously a very good reason why people are living 2 to a room. Rents are sky high, even in good old Haringey. Not a problem easily overcome unfortunately.
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I couldn't agree more that high rents and lack of suitable properties force people to live in poor conditions. That's why a sustainable housing policy for the area would not only prevent unscrupulous landlords from exploiting people and forcing them to live in overcrowded conditions but would look at ways to help people to find somewhere to live (fair renting; housing associations; key worker loans there's probably more...) that is decent and affordable. You also have to consider improving the infrastructure to support large numbers of people, (maternity services, for example, are stretched at the moment which will mean 3-5 years down the line nursery/school places will need to be found).
The 'market' cannot be allowed to control a basic human need, shelter. People will only put down roots and care about their community when they have been afforded the dignity of decent housing.
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Oh I agree but it won't happen with any of these three main political parties unfortunately. The way it works in Europe is that most people accept renting (at least within cities) and a low rate with other reasonable terms are part of the contract protected by law. Here in the UK people are stuck in the rut of thinking they must mortgage themselves to the hilt for life so they can say they own their own home. They don't of course, the bank does. Once paid off they own it but only after paying out several 10 of 1000s of pounds in interest. The interest is paid instead of rent and an asset is owned at the end to pass onto the children or borrow against for cruises in ones old age!
I can't see the UK going the way of Europe in thinking. Which means home owning is still king and the market dictates the terms.
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Yes it is odd that a political policy designed to keep a party in power in the 80s (because homeowners more often than not voted Tory) should appear to have become the norm despite the damage it did in depleting council house stock and putting millions of ordinary people into debt. It will probably not go away as so many people's expectations of increased wealth are now bound up in their bricks and mortar, despite people being badly burned in the 'Buy to Let' scams (recently exposed on Panorama) and other property scandals ( building on flood plains, overbuilding of flats, telling lies on the land registry about prices to inflate property prices etc.).
Still, whatever method we use, John is right about one thing, the council is not enforcing its own rules and must be made to do so. In the longer term, we can work for an inclusive policy on housing but for now the council must be forced to take responsibility for preventing illegal conversions which benefit no one, least of all those who are forced to live in cramped, unsuitable housing because they have no choice.
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> ......... for now the council must be forced to take responsibility for preventing illegal conversions which benefit no one, least of all those who are forced to live in cramped, unsuitable housing because they have no choice.
Yes I agree with this.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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OK, so shall we start with a letter from a solicitor? I know someone who does class action law suits.
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Yes, a letter would be a great idea! Another of the council's problem is that one department has no clue what the other one is doing, and they need a "housing liaisons officer" or something. They also need to have people in more permanent positions in the planning permission department.
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