Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Another HMO applies for certificate of lawfulness. Please object!
Another Ladder house has been illegally converted. This one at 72 Seymour Road has gone from 2 flats to 4. It was done very quietly, as none of us neighbours have picked up on it at all. Until now. The owner has waited exactly 4 years and 3 months before applying for a certificate of lawfulness. So he’s clearly been aware of what he’s doing, and is playing the system.
Legally it is too late to get this changed back to 2 flats, but I think we should all protest anyway. First of all to let Haringey Council know what we think of all the illegal HMOs that are cropping up, and also to really make them look at this case, and maybe set an example. Who knows?
Link here; http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...
Please add your objections, and let’s see where that gets us.
Thanks!
Legally it is too late to get this changed back to 2 flats, but I think we should all protest anyway. First of all to let Haringey Council know what we think of all the illegal HMOs that are cropping up, and also to really make them look at this case, and maybe set an example. Who knows?
Link here; http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...
Please add your objections, and let’s see where that gets us.
Thanks!
Tags for Forum Posts: Road, Seymour, hmo, illegal conversion, object, planning
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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thankyou anette for letting us know about this scumbag applicant.
please object it's your right as a citizen !
three cheers for hol.
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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Did anyone watch The Price of Property on C4 just? It seems that dodgy landlords have been converting Victorian properties into hovels since the late forties. There probably wasn't any legislation against it then but there is now and they're still at it.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Done. Well done on posting the link.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Thanks Anette, have objected. Have also sent this to Gina Adamou...
Dear Councillor Adamou
I am writing to you as I understand that you chair the Haringey Council HMO working
group.
I am prompted to write by the discovery that the (absentee) landlord of 72 Seymour
Road has just applied for a Certificate of Lawfulness for use of the property as
four self contained flats. The application comes four years and four months after
converting them, which was done without obtaining planning permission at the time.
As I understand it, he will be granted a certificate simply because four years has
elapsed between the original conversion and now. This is despite the fact that this
area of Harringay is a no conversion area and that no planning permission was
obtained at the time of conversion.
As a result, the three houses opposite my own now contain at least ten households:
two (nos. 72 and 76) have four flats within each house; no. 74 has two flats. I
should point out that no. 76, like no. 72, was an illegal conversion which then
obtained a Certificate of Lawfulness by applying four years after the work had been
carried out.
I have submitted comments on this specific case using the Haringey Planning Services
website. But I would just like to register my bewilderment at the fact that the
system allows this to happen. Had I realised, four years ago, what was happening
across the road, I would certainly have reported it. Not surprisingly, however, the
building work was done very quietly and neighbours failed to realise how significant
it was. But it shocks me that a landlord can carry out this sort of work and then
four years later simply get it approved, and that local residents can have no say in
the decision. It is also clear that Haringey did know about the conversion, because
the Council Tax payments changed at that time, from two to four flats.
As I’m sure you know, the level of HMOs in Harringay causes considerable problems.
There are a large number of authorised HMOs, as well as an unknown number of illegal
ones (like no. 72). They result in very tangible problems, including unsafe
dwellings (there have been at least two serious fires in HMOs on Green Lanes in the
last year), increased litter/rubbish, increased traffic and so on. But they also
result in more intangible problems because of the fact that HMO populations tend to
be fairly transient. So it becomes harder for people to feel part of a community,
and to care about the area within which they live. This does not just apply to those
living in HMOs; in my view it can also affect the attitudes of other local people living around
them.
I would really like to know how seriously Haringey is taking this issue, and what
sort of action is being planned. In particular, I would like to know what the
Council is doing to try and be more ‘joined up’ in its thinking, by promoting better
communication between the different elements of Council that are involved with HMOs
(for example, Council Tax payments and Planning, as in the case above).
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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Thanks, I've written a similar letter to her.
Thanks everyone for objecting. Hopefully a torrent of objections will, if nothing else, make the council take note.
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Permalink Reply by RuthE on
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Really brilliant letter Alison. Thanks Annette I'll certainly object. Its amazing what goes on in your very own street without anyone knowing isnt it? Makes you wonder whats going on in the rest of the borough, even the council doesnt seems to know. Do they care? Lets see how they react to your letter, they can't fob you off with some weak explanation because you obviously understand the situation and the wider implications more than they do or choose to do.
What concerns me too is the fact that with four flats come the inevitable four cars or even more clogging up the road.
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Apparently once this working group has developed its HMO strategy it will be piloted in Harringay... What that means I don't know - fingers crossed.
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Permalink Reply by Martha on
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Annette - can't believe another one appeared! Have certainly objected - but as most on this site say, it's unlikely to make any difference to the Council.
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Wow, 10 objections now registered - well done everyone. Keep 'em coming.
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Permalink Reply by Adam on
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anyone have trouble with the online objection form - wouldn't work for me and when I wrote to the council they said they was nothing wrong with the webpage
superb letter alison!!
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Permalink Reply by NickH on
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Having read your letter I felt obliged to add my objection, the website seems to be working, although my comment has not yet appeared.
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