Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
St Ann’s hospital flats
Thanks to a Rightmove alert, I received details of a flat being sold at the St Ann’s hospital site. A one-bed flat is offered off-plan for £410,000 leasehold, so presumably also liable for ground rent and service charges to cover the “concierge service”. As well as claiming in a headline that the site is “8 minutes from King’s Cross” (actually from Seven Sisters station, of course, once you read through the blurb), perhaps predictably the agent’s spiel says “With… a forecast 20.7% rental growth from 2024 to 2028, this address is not only a place to live but also a smart investment opportunity”.
After all the efforts of StArt to ensure as many as possible of the properties would at least be “affordable”, that doesn’t look encouraging at this stage. Does anyone know what the final requirement was for the percentage the developers have to provide of social and/or “affordable” housing, and have they whittled it down since getting final permission?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton
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I'm puzzled about this suggestion by Iris that we: "need to reduce the demand for housing".
Isn't the demand for more affordable housing for our families and young people part and parcel of the total demand for housing?
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T
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Read between the lines: 'reduce the demand' by deporting people... abolishing indefinite leave to remain, and so on.
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To be fair, Gordon T, although your guess may be accurate, Iris Allen hasn't actually posted such clear, honest, thoughts or proposals.
I'd be in favour - for example - of examining some possible ways of reducing housing demand by asking how other countries try and succeed in preventing homes being kept empty for long periods to use for property speculation. Or bought-up by super-rich people who have several homes in different countries or continents; partly at least to avoid taxes. Or maybe just because they can.
Years ago when I was an elected councillor I intervened when our Council needed to evict a group of squatters from a dilapidated empty building in my ward. I was partly successful in gaining a little time so the squatters could - and did - leave the place peacefully and without getting their belongings thrown on the street.
One of the squatters told me about their previous squat in a huge empty home in Hampstead near the Hearth. It was apparently owned by someone from the Persian Gulf and used for one month a year.
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Alan: My understanding is that many other countries, particularly in continental Europe, have typically had much better security of tenure — and, in some, rent controls — for tenants that helps stabilise the rental market, so long-term renting is feasible. In the UK, we’ve gone the other way, with property seen almost exclusively as a capital asset or investment option rather than a place to live, and minimal protection for rental tenants. The high-end (all those oligarchic mansions on Bishop’s Avenue and the flats at No 1 Knightsbridge, for example) will always be in a stratosphere that also embraces Dubai, NY, Monaco and various tax havens, but changes at high street level that help ordinary people would be much more valuable.
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