Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
At Last! An illegal conversion finally brought to book!!
I am delighted to be able to finally report success in my ongoing battle over the illegal conversion at 54 Effingham Road. It converted in the Winter of 2005/2006 into two flats. I first complained around 20 April 2006, around the same time as tenants first moved in, and have been fighting for the last 3 and a half years to keep the process moving (with huge thanks to Nora for her assistance). See the email below I received today. If I added up the man-hours I spent writting letters, phoning, emailing etc. it would probably be 50-60 hours. Proof that if you really want to win these battles against the illegal developments, you really have to take personal responsibility for constantly haranguing and berating the relevant departments (in both Haringey and the justice system) until you win. Happy to give assistance/advice to anyone who wants to hear more and has a similar problem. My only quibble is that the Defendant was fined just 5k (the max is 20k) despite raking it in for 3 years (see the previous discussion about just how lucrative these conversions are when rented out).
"Hello
Mr. Antoniou's matter was heard as hoped and he was sentenced to a £5,000 fine and £500 costs. Below is an extract from the hearing report which was prepared by the advocate after court.
The Defendant appeared and was represented. He entered a guilty plea. The court was referred to their obligation to have regard to the Defendant’s financial benefit which accrued or appeared likely to have accrued in consequence of the offence.
Mitigation may be summarised as follows (please see the attached documentation which was served at court):
- The Defendant bought the property as two flats; [actually, that's a lie. He bought the house in 2006 and converted it himself]
- As soon as he became aware of the notice around January 2007 he instructed an architect to file an appeal;
- The tenants have been served with notices requiring possession;
- A contractor has been arranged to set out proposed works;
- Regarding financial benefit accrued, the Defendant pointed out that if the property was rented out as a single dwelling he would in fact earned more rent (he does not live in the property).
Planning enforcement are going to keep an eye on the works at the property to ensure that they are carried out fully. If they aren't then we will re-prosecute Mr. Antoniou.
Kind regards
Chris Hicks
"Hello
Mr. Antoniou's matter was heard as hoped and he was sentenced to a £5,000 fine and £500 costs. Below is an extract from the hearing report which was prepared by the advocate after court.
The Defendant appeared and was represented. He entered a guilty plea. The court was referred to their obligation to have regard to the Defendant’s financial benefit which accrued or appeared likely to have accrued in consequence of the offence.
Mitigation may be summarised as follows (please see the attached documentation which was served at court):
- The Defendant bought the property as two flats; [actually, that's a lie. He bought the house in 2006 and converted it himself]
- As soon as he became aware of the notice around January 2007 he instructed an architect to file an appeal;
- The tenants have been served with notices requiring possession;
- A contractor has been arranged to set out proposed works;
- Regarding financial benefit accrued, the Defendant pointed out that if the property was rented out as a single dwelling he would in fact earned more rent (he does not live in the property).
Planning enforcement are going to keep an eye on the works at the property to ensure that they are carried out fully. If they aren't then we will re-prosecute Mr. Antoniou.
Kind regards
Chris Hicks
Tags for Forum Posts: illegal conversion
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Fantastic, well done to you and everyone else involved.
One query - his point that he'd have made more money had it stayed a house. Surely that is nonsense?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Well done Bushy. I've got a very similar case that I've put a similar amount of time into on Hewitt. The papers have just gone over to legal so I hope we'll have a second case to add to yours soon.
Which all goes to show residents can do it for themselves!
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Bushy:
Please feel some pride in what you have acheived. It inspires the rest of us to not give up even when things drag on with no foreseeable conclusion.
It certainly gives a big message to slumlords though, even if they are fined it won't dent their profit from rentals.
the slumlord defendant said that he would have made more profit if he had not converted. So why convert ?
Feel a bit sorry for the tenants being evicted.
May i bring up another point please.
I have read that the conservatives plan a 'fast track' system of regulating planning such as in the style of 'Easyjet' where (this is the important bit) someone wanting to get to the front of the queue with their planning application can do so by paying a fee. Would this not encourage corruption in another name ?
Sounds a bit like a 'third world' system where if you pay you get what you want.
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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Well done Bushy, battle almost won - just need to actually get it converted back now. Nice work!!
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Permalink Reply by Stuart on
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A further update. Little work has been done to convert the house back to a single unit. I think the electricity has been sorted out (I saw contractors working there before Xmas although there are still two meters outside) and there's some bits of old furniture in the front garden. But not much apart from that. The conviction was obtained on 28 September 2009 so the owner has already had 3 and half months to get this started properly.
Planning Enforcement say that strictly speaking, the owner is still non-compliant with the enforcement notice and therefore could be prosecuted again at any time. In practice, they give them a reasonable time to get the work done. The next stage is a compliance visit to the site to see how much, if any, work has been done, before contacting the owner again and threatening a further prosecution. They will look at visiting it shortly (though this was by way of a vague commitment rather than any immediate promise of action).
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Exhausting. The system is so crap. But you're getting there - well done!
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I understand from one of the immediate neighbours that the family who lived upstairs have moved out and the work is being done. So while it may be happening slowly, it is happening.
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Thanks Kate - that's good to know. If you hear any more, please do let me know.
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Excellent to hear that justice was done - albeit rather slowly. I did quite a lot of investigation of planning law whilst at our previous place as our landlady had broken rather a few of the rules herself - the one thing that I did conclude (mainly because the planning dept. told me!) was that if members of the public do not police the area for planning contraventions, then the likelihood is that they will go unnoticed by the council as they don't have the resources available to police it themselves. Admittedly this was Brent Council (lived in Dollis Hill) but I’d imagine that Haringay Council wouldn’t be overrun with planning enforcers itself.
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