Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Demand safe homes in Harringay
Haringey Council is issuing landlords licences for shared homes (HMOs) without safety checks and is even paying criminals to house people in unsafe and illegal properties.
Add your name to our petition to call for change:
www.safehomesharingey.org.uk
Everyone in Haringey should have a safe home.
Please share locally - change only happens if enough of us speak up.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sandy
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In applying for a license you have to be a fit and proper person and declare any convictions on submitting all your safety certificates online with your application you wont get a license without and then Haringey council checks the information and sends a housing officer to inspect the property. i cant see how properties are being licensed to criminals and without the required safety checks. There is far too much regulation in rental housing that's why rents are going up ridiculous amounts and honest landlords are selling
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Sandy, being a fit and proper person is required by law but the problem is Haringey Council's enforcement of the law. I was going to give you an example, but I've made a new thread for it here so you can see the issue there. The issue on safety checks is related to temporary accomodation, not rentals. The council should carry out suitability checks before placing someone in temporary accommodation, including safety checks (e.g. there is heating, it's fire safe, no rodent infestation, no mould) and based on the article in the original post, they aren't always doing that.
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They absolutely don’t you are right on that! I think they turn a blind eye to much of it, because there are so many who need housing, and they want to keep people where they are.
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Dan,
Even if this was temporary accommodation someone applied for a licence as the article does say that a license was applied for and is pending
The issue of safety would be addressed by the multiple different certificates and information that one has to submit with the license application
Haringey Council would have been aware of the conditions ie at least read the pending application before housing people there and follow up with a site visit asap
It would not be issuing licenses without safety checks or paying criminals to house people that’s the whole purpose of the license... Do you know who applied for the license and who was being paid from the rental income?
Safety checks and licenses apply to ALL privately rented homes in Haringey even if you are renting to one household. You can check on the Haringey Council website for more information
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Sandy,
The licence was applied for a year ago but has not been granted, therefore it is still unlicensed by law. Certificates (e.g. EPC, gas - which doesn't exist in the property, etc) don't cover the safety issues there, which include mould, damp, a rodent infestation, fire safety issues and until a couple of years ago no heating (now there are some electric radiators).
It has operated in a similar way since at least 2001, which was the year there was a first planning enforcement breach notice put on the property (a second notice happened in 2008). These were for having converted to an HMO without planning permission.
Haringey had not read the pending application before housing people there because the application was made in Nov 2024 and several people have been housed there by the council since at least 2019. I know some of them personally.
The council is aware of the conditions because there have been multiple visits by environmental health and planning officers over the years following complaints and previous press coverage. No formal action had been taken by environmental health, and this summer one of the officers told me when visiting that this was because they were waiting to see the outcome of the planning investigation (which of course is not relevant to their legal duties on safety).
The council does issue HMO licences without an inspection. They say on their website that they will inspect at some point in the five year licence period, but they do not inspect in advance of granting the licence or request a property is brought up to scratch on safety before granting the licence. That is a key demand of the petition.
Telling me what the Haringey website says and what should have happened is all well and good, but the problem here is the difference between what the law and Haringey Council say should happen, and what has actually happened.
By the way, the council has also housed several other people in temporary accommodation at other properties owned by the same landlord which also do not have HMO licences, so this isn't a one off incident, there are systemic problems.
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I know the article is about HMO’s and this is very important. But also what is supposed to be coming at some point, are licences on houses that are in flats etc. I was told a little while back, that this will eventually become compulsory. Now where I live has been granted a licence. Despite a few things being known. And how can the council give that, when from what is seen it is not a complete conversion in the sense that for example, the part that separates my flat and the other flat, is like board that when their television was put up, the screws for the bracket, came through to my flat 🤷🏻♀️ I pointed this out to an inspector and he just did a face 🤷🏻♀️ So what does that say!
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They weren’t that long ago then, as my landlord applied, but I was told by a council worker who visited, that it was not compulsory but will be in the future. How on earth is that even possible, with pipes here and holes where some botch plumbing and electricity etc has been managed. And a board type petition between myself and another flat.
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