Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Crap mountain - advice pls!
I'm new to HoL, sorry to start off with a moan, but I wondered if anyone could offer some advice...
We're on Wightman rd, next to a house converted into 6 bedsits. Lovely landlords have failed to make any space for wheelie bins, so they just have the one, and a giant hedge behind which crap accumulates. Not much cop for potentially 12 people.
Earlier in the summer, with the addition of most of a divan, an impressive crap mountain appeared behind the hedge. I spoke to the council and they got it sorted. But since then, the wheelie has moved to the pavement (I think there's a couple with a baby, they're probably having trouble getting round the bin) and crap mountain has re-formed around it.
The torn bags (thanks various two and four legged scavengers) get re-bagged so someone cares a bit. The mountain gets cleared occasionally, but is back quickly and the present mess has been there for what seems like ages. It's depressing to see every day (and smell) and there's also the mice which keep eating their way into my flat.
There is a high turnover of tenants, they aren't particularly friendly and the landlord is clearly doing the absolute minimum possible. I am unsure what the council can do, as essentially the problem is a combination of none of the tenants having the capability/urge to deal with recycling and insufficient storage for the amount of refuse. They've said they can't make the landlord make space for more bins and I don't think a leaflet on collection days is going to sort it.
So, what can I do? Anything? Suggestions most welcome...
Thank you
Polly
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by PhoebeMac on
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V&M - have you checked whether the house is on the council's HMO register? If it is the landlord's address will be there, and I wonder if it could be a breach of his HMO license if he is allowing this to happen . And if the property isn't on the register, maybe it should be (Haringey has an additional licensing scheme which extends the type of properties required to be registered) so worth a call to the council HMO section either way. scheme which I think this property might come under).
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/hmo_licensing_-_register_of_licensed_hmo...
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/housing_and_planning/housing/landl...
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Hi there,
Thank you for the tip, I will have a look. I didn't even know such a thing existed! I think it probably is on the list because when previously talking to the council I guesstimated 8 bedsits based on the number of labelled doorbells and shortly after there was a conspicuous upgrade of the doorbells with only six clearly labelled, alongside the general cleanup.
It would be interesting to see if the bin thing is a breach of the landlord's license. It seems such a patently inappropriate arrangement at present.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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If this is working like the Newham model, the registration fees charged to landlords pay for the extra staffing for monitoring. So if enforcement isn't happening, something has gone wrong with the sums.
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Possibly only those properties which fall under the mandatory scheme are listed. Or the register is out of date, which wouldn't surprise me...
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Polly,
This house has been a perennial problem - whether with overgrown hedge most of the year or overflowing wheelie bin during the recent heat-wave. The bin is regularly full past the brim even by 1st Thursday mornings, i.e. within 24 hrs of the Veolia collection. I called (again) during our July Festival of Maggots Week and remonstrated about effing scoundrel landlord and effing useless Council, but the couple with baby-in-buggy-struggling-up-high-steps-past-Crap-Mountain just asked me sarkily if I wanted to be their landlord and turned on their heels.
However, all will soon be well and all manner of things will be well. I predict that, within 24 hours, Cllr Emine Ibrahim will be onto this thread with a homily on how to get effective stuff done with our very efficient Council services. Once they notice that ex-Councillor Karen has been on the case of House No. XX (No, Karen didn't identify it so nor will I) and that Clive Carter, our Lead-Councillor for Harringay & Highgate, has confirmed the fact, I am confident that Cllrs Emine, Gina & James will be crawling all over this case and what it symbolises like July maggots over my near neighbours' discarded pampers. Relax, Polly, it will be solved and our very effective Council will have excavated a three-bin enclave in that built-up front yard, charging absentee HMO landlord for the neat construction job and a hefty fine for allowing his property to be a perennially noisome problem for his tenants, neighbours and Wightman's pedestrian commuters. In a touching ceremony, photographed in Kober-Kolor by Haringey People, Emine will address the assembled landlord (suitably penitent) and multiple-tenants (eternally grateful) with a further homily in several community languages on weekly recycling & composting (via the non-existent Green Bin and Green Bucket), while the Veolia & Kober representatives will pledge themselves to a renewed weekly refuse collection from Wightman Road immediately - to be phased back Boroughwide over the coming six months.
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OAE
I'm sure that our councillors are on the case. I'm sure one of them (EI) will be on HoL short telling us this is not a council issue and nothing can be done and we will have to put up with it. We'll be told Karen is wrong and she is just trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
We'll be told Clive has not got a clue and what is a few maggots between neighbours.
What I like about our new councillors is how good they are at following whether it be Kober or Alexander. They seen always to be behind.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Hmmm - a quote from the HMO section of the Haringey website here:
Q. How does licensing of HMOs affect me?
A. If you live in or next to a HMO which has inadequate waste storage, which is causing lots of noise, which you feel is unsafe or in disrepair, or which is overcrowded with people, licensing will try to address all these issues by forcing the owner to manage the property effectively and to meet minimum standards.See this page for more details:
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/housing_and_planning/housing/landl...
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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If it's the one I think it is (St Paul's church end with overhanging hedge) I walked past this morning and again this evening. A compete mess almost every time I pass by. The rubbish bags were split and spilled so far across the pavement and up against a parked car that I had to walk on the road this morning after trying to shuffle it to one slide a bit with my foot.. Surely as well as neighbours and councillors complaining about it, Veolia must be taking it up? Just from a practical point of view it must take them far longer than properties on the rest of their round to clear to crap up.
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One of the worst bits is when I'm in the car about to go somewhere and I can see people with kids and bags and bikes squeeeezing past the cack. Crap-mountain-behind-the-hedge was at least better in that respect.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Michael the mess is still there at 20:15 this evening. The Council is now fully aware of this problem. Recent Councillor Karen Alexander has been pro-active in this matter and she has had my support also.
The immediate thing that needs to happen is for Veolia to pick up this mess; then, measures need to be taken to reduce the likelihood of it happening again.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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People need to be confronted. Not very English I know...
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