Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
House left empty for 6 years
In our street there's a house that's been left empty for 6 years. The owner keeps telling the council that he's moving in 'next month'. This has been going on ever since I started correspondence with Haringey's housing team.
Cllr Zena has tried to prod the officials in charge of the case but received the stock response as above.
The house next door on one side is an HMO so the owner doesn't seem to care about the knot weed that's encroached on their garden.
The house of the other side was sold recently and the new owners had to pay for knotweed clearance at their own expense.
Not only has the owner the empty home strung along the council for many years, he's had builders in and out several times leaving a lot of building waste at the back of the property. He seems to fall out with every builder that he hires.
The gas and electricity supply have now been shut off and an speaking to a gas contractor who was on site, the property is now unsafe from a utility perspective.
Does anyone have an ideas as to how we can get this property compulsory purchased and occupied? The council were close to doing taking legal action but seem to have been persuaded by the owner that he's going move in. The place is uninhabitable!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Graham Charnock on
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Has the person who owns it any obligation to keep it habitable? I'd be surprised if they did, but I honestly don't know. I know councils can compulsory purchase many buildings under many circumtances, but I wouldn't have thought simple neglect was one of them. Property owners have rights too, I suppose.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Yes, owners have rights but also obligations such as making sure the structure is safe and does not cause a nuisance. I would have thought that as utilities cannot be safely supplied there is at least an indication that it is not structurally sound and the dumping of building waste is clearly a nuisance. The CPO of a property is a last resort and has to be approved by the Secretary of State.
it will be interesting when the rules change on council tax (the last budget introduced the right for a local authority to charge double tax on properties left empty for over a certain length of time) to see how many of these properties suddenly have work started to make them habitable.
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You shouldn’t have to but I’ve found tweeting Haringey when a problem gets stuck is pretty good. Something about public naming and shaming?
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Permalink Reply by Tina S on
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Following as we have a similar case next door - it’s a building site with planning permission but nothing happening for nearly a year. but the difference is that someone lives in there.
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Permalink Reply by hhnrau on
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why not encourage some responsible squatters? we had some in our neighbourhood that lavished great care on an abandoned property, and cleaned up the garden.
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Squatting residential property is now illegal.
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