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Government backs Swiss
Cottage build to rent homes
A £100m plan to regenerate Swiss
Cottage town centre has been given
the go-ahead by the Secretary of
State for Communities and Local
Government.
Essential Living, a developer and operator
of homes for rent, will deliver and manage
the mixed-use scheme under a single
brand. As well as an array of communal
facilities and amenity spaces, the plans
will include 54 new affordable homes and
purpose-built space for community use.
Camden councillors refused the
proposals for 184 flats in September
2014, despite a recommendation by
the council’s planning officers that the
scheme should be approved.
The scheme, designed by GRID
architects, also received backing from the
Design Council and the Mayor of London.
The Department for Communities and
Local Government (DCLG) supported
the recommendation of an independent
planning inspector that the council’s
refusal should be overturned, noting
the significant social benefits the
development would bring.
Theatre Square, designed by GRID
architects, will see an old 1980’s office
building demolished to make way for a
24-storey residential tower containing
130 apartments specifically designed
for renting.
The tower will be joined with a part fivestorey, part seven-storey lower podium
block hosting 54 affordable homes, as
well as flexible retail space to animate
street level and a new community centre.
The Government has previously stated
the importance of delivering purposebuilt, professionally managed private
rented homes funded by institutional
investment – known increasingly as
build to rent.
There is some £90bn worth of potential
investment, according to the Better
Renting Campaign, which represents
the emerging sector of build to rent
developers, and they say that there needs
to be wider appreciation of how the
model works for it to be fully unlocked.
Another of the Essential Living’s schemes
received unanimous outline planning
permission earlier this month from Ealing
Council. The Perfume Factory in Acton, the
largest build to rent project in London, will
see over 500 flats for rent built.
Scott Hammond, Managing Director
at Essential Living, said: “This has been a
lengthy process but we are very pleased
the Secretary of State has backed the
independent
planning
inspector’s
recommendation that this important
proposal for the regeneration of Swiss
Cottage should proceed. This is entirely
consistent with the original positive
recommendation of Camden Council
planning officers and the support
received from both the Greater London
Authority and Design Council.
“As we always believed it would, the
extensive scrutiny of the scheme during
the public inquiry has revealed the
significant social benefits of the scheme
in terms of new homes for rent and
community space, enhancements to the
street-level frontages and the recognised
attractive quality of the design. This is the
right decision for the revitalisation of Swiss
Cottage and we will now commence the
work to deliver our proposals which we
will be calling Theatre Square."
Overcrowding landlord ordered to pay £10,000
A landlord has been hit with a
prosecution and fine after Waltham
Forest Council took him to task for a
string of housing offences including
overcrowding, failure to licence and
poor living conditions.
Landlord Mustafa Demir, 42, was fined
£7,000 for offences relating to a property
on Overton Road, Walthamstow. He
was also ordered to pay prosecution
costs of £3,466.
The three-storey property was originally
licensed as a House in Multiple Occupation
(HMO), split into seven separate bedsits.
When Council officers visited in May 2015
they found poor living conditions and
failure to comply with license conditions,
including overcrowding. The HMO licence
for the property was revoked.
No attempt was made to re-licence the
property, and a follow-up visit from Council
officers found a number of breaches of
HMO Management Regulations, including
damp, disrepair to amenities, no door
to the shared kitchen and kitchen waste
flowing directly onto the rear yard.
Councillor Khevyn Limbajee, Cabinet
Member for Housing, said: “We will not
hesitate to prosecute landlords who
constantly ignore our warnings and
continue to flout the law. We are cracking
down hard on rogue landlords, and
20 Landlord & Buy-to-Let Issue 64 • March 2016
inspections are continuing to take place
across the borough.
“Anyone who thinks they can get away
with renting out properties in such a poor
condition in Waltham Forest needs to
think again. We have a licencing scheme
in place for all private rented properties in
Waltham Forest, not just for HMOs.”
The Council is continuing to pursue
enforcement action at this address
and gain compliance with relevant
legislation. The prosecution means that
Mr Demir will not be able to have direct
control over the letting and management
of this property, and any other properties
he owns in the borough.