Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey starts auctioning empty homes to recover debt
Haringey Council has issued a warning to owners of empty or abandoned houses who owe the council more than £2000 to settle up or face losing their property.
The council used a ninety-year-old law earlier this month to auction an abandoned house occupied by squatters and has a further 29 empty properties in its sights for legal action. Over £325,000 of unpaid council tax debt has been recovered in this way over the past four years.
The house in Jansons Road, Tottenham, had been empty for eight years and sold for £251,000 allowing Haringey to recover over £12,000 in debts. This was the seventh empty property to be disposed of in this way by the council using the 1925 Law of Property Act. The remaining cases are with Haringey’s legal department pending possession through the courts.
Cllr John Bevan, cabinet member for housing, said; “The council is making progress on long-term empty properties. I have instructed senior officers to progress urgently the other cases we have at the moment, at no cost to the council tax payer because all expenses are met from the proceeds of sale. This is the last chance for the owners of empty or abandoned homes to settle their debts and avoid possession proceedings.
“With the worsening housing shortage in Haringey we cannot allow homes to remain empty for years. The council will consider taking this type of action when an empty property owes over £2000, normally in council tax arrears. On behalf of the whole community we are also pressing other people in Haringey who own empty properties, regardless of whether or not there is a debt, to bring them back into use.”
In this case the money owed related to outstanding council tax and emergency works undertaken by the council. The proceeds of the sale will be used to pay off the debts to the council and court costs, with the remainder paid into court in accordance with the Order for Sale. The owner can apply to the court to recover remaining funds after costs.
Source: Haringey Council
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I posted a request for the source of this news. And then deleted my post as I got an emailed Press Release from Cllr John Bevan the "cabinet" councillor responsible. At a quick glance, it seems to be the exact same wording. But with a different heading. The original was: Council warning, ‘We’ll auction your property’.
I agree with the Council telling residents - and property owners - what it's trying to do about homes left empty and rotting for years— especially when thousands more people face homelessness or overcrowding. But I'm unclear whether this is actually 'new' news or continuation of an existing practice. I may be wrong, but as I recall, the Council has done this in the past.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Yes, Alan, not being full-time journalists we do publish press releases from the Council verbatim from time to time.
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I appreciate the problem. But can I please suggest that giving the source would be helpful. With a link if possible.
Churnalism on the net is a growing problem. The local free sheets already tend to print press releases as if they are news. Many people see HoL as an independent and trustworthy source. If we don't know something was originally a press release we may be less questioning and less sceptical about spin.
It's not just authoritarian regimes which are learning fast how to manipulate the new media. Top-down organisations — political or non-political, commercial or non-profit — are rapidly getting the hang of it.
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It's there Alan, perhaps a bit hidden, but under the article.
I appreciate your comments.
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Oops! Missed it. Sorry.
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Permalink Reply by Isidoros on
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Alan is right, this is not new.
We've been doing it (ie auctioning empty properties to recover money owed to the authority) for years; I'd authorised a number when I was Cabinet member for housing.
I believe that the purpose of this press release is not to announce a new policy but to issue/publicise a reminder to owners of empty properties who owe money to the council that this council does take this kind of action in order to recover its debts.
This is consistent with our general approach of not wanting to resort to this kind of rather draconian measure, if we can avoid it, ie we hope that if people are aware of this real threat, most of them would rather clear their debts to the council than lose their peoperties.
In parallel we had started a further similar initiative in certain cases of houses left empty for long periods of time, even if their owners don't owe money to the council, using a different piece of legislation (whereby we can CPO such properties and make them available through housing providers for refurbishment and to use for much needed accomodation). Again the aim is to return the properties into use, rather than acquire them and in the majority of the cases I know of, starting the proceedings had proved sufficient to motivate owners to take the desired action themselves.
Isidoros
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Council and Cabinet usage:
Cllr Alan Stanton (Lab) consistently writes Council with an upper-case initial when referring to our elected Council and, rightly IMO, consigns "cabinet" to the dustbin of lower-case with meaningful inverted commas/quotation marks.
Cllr Isidoros Diakides (Lab), sometime Cabinet member for housing (or Housing), raises that "cabinet" to the pseudo-dignity of Upper-Case with nary an inverted comma in sight, while consistently lowering our elected Council to mere lower-case council.
Quid distat inter Tottenham Hale et Tottenham Green ? A thin red line of hierarchicalism, perhaps.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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IMO there's been an increase in pomposity in local government in recent years with inflation in all titles. It's not just "cabinet" and not just Haringey.
I reckon there should be one Cabinet and that's the one formed by national government. What was once known as the Town Clerk is now known as the Chief Executive Officer (with salary to match).
The pomposity inflation continues with other job titles. One example was the Director of the Environment that became the Director of the Urban Environment (this in Haringey) but even that wasn't good enough. This year the title changed again to "Director of Place and Sustainability". Are these grandiose titles supposed to impress us or each other? Does it make the holder more important or just feel more important?
I regard the nomenclature inflation as an unhealthy trend in many respects, not least because it helps to separate further the titled from the ordinary public, whom they're supposed to serve.
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