Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

HMOs in Haringey

We have had a bit of an issue with folks dumping on Pemberton. It is a persistent problem from a couple of HMOs owned by the same person. Rubbish builds up in their front yard and finds its way miraculously onto the New River Bridge. ('Not me Governor!')

As part of that discussion the issue of HMO licencing came up. I am not sure how many of us are aware that Haringey chose to extend the regulation linked to HMO licencing to pretty much most shared houses, not just the classic HMO with self contained units... The licensing is designed to ensure that HMOs are of high quality, and have critical safety installed, such as interlinked smoke and fire alarms. A search for those properties now licensed can be undertaken here*. it is long with a page for each licensed property. Search for your street name and it will take you to the relevant pages.

If you have any concerns about an HMO in your street these are the contacts of the lady who is (was) managing the HMO licencing in Harringay/Haringey. She would be very happy if we flagged any HMOs that are not currently on her register.

Glayne Russell (Mrs)

Senior Environmental Health Officer (Shared and Empty Homes)

Haringey Council, Housing Improvement Team (Private Sector)

Apex House, 820 Seven Sisters Road N15 5PQ

T. 020 8489 5252

E. glayne.russell@haringey.gov.uk

*Broken link edited by site admin June 2020

Tags for Forum Posts: hmo licencing, hmos

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Permalink Reply by matt on March 14, 2017 at 13:03

... have critical safety installed, such as interlinked smoke and fire alarms.

Interested to know also if there's a list of owner occupied properties that have installed (or more to the point, not yet installed) smoke detectors? Fire does not discriminate ... especially with terraced properties that share walls, roof space & possibly stairwells.

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Permalink Reply by 1vut8bf3om5m9 on March 14, 2017 at 14:00

Some legal research for you in response to your query about owner-occupiers:

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Exempt buildings

Some buildings (or parts of buildings) are not HMOs for the purpose of licensing under the Housing Act 2004, even if they meet the requirements of the HMO definition . The following are not HMOs:

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Those that are occupied by a freeholder or long leaseholder (21 plus years) and any member of his household (if any) and any other persons not forming part of his household and not exceeding two in number (paragraph 6, Schedule 14, HA 2004; regulation 6(2), 2006 Miscellaneous Regulations).

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What this is saying is if the owner lives on site then anyone in his family is fine PLUS two more who are what we would expect are tenants. So if the owner lives at the premises plus three tenants that would presumptively be required to be registered as an HMO. Also, this doesn't apply to a block of flats. If the owner lives in one of them the rest still would follow the usual tests to determine HMO status.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on March 14, 2017 at 15:13

Thanks for this Jus. Interesting to see how many HMOs are on Warham Road where I live. Despite walking up and down my street most days for the last 33 years, I didn't realise that some of the addresses listed were HMOs. I suppose that could lead you to the conclusion that well managed HMOs can work well. It's the management, or lack of it, that leads to problems.