Families to be kicked out of homes as council buys houses
DOZENS of Hayes families are being kicked out of their homes in a matter of months as the houses they have lived in for years are going to be transformed for council tenants.
The 50 families affected, some of whom have being renting there for decades, say rising rents elsewhere in Hayes, as well as the cost of a deposit and agency fees, mean they will be forced to leave the area or even be made homeless.
The homes, in Blandford Waye, Carlyon Road, Minterne Waye and Swanage Waye will be bought by Barnet Council from property investment company Palace Capital for a reported £18.2 million.
Residents have been told they have to move out by March 2019, but many are now saying they will refuse in an attempt to dissuade Barnet Council from finalising the deal.
Carole Newstead, 54, who has lived in a home in Blandford Waye for nearly 14 years, says she and her husband have already told Hillingdon Council they will be left homeless because they cannot afford the deposit for a new home.
She said: “When we first moved in we were told this was our home for life and that the homes were never going to be sold. As far as we’re concerned, these already are affordable homes. Nothing out there is affordable for us.
“I was told Hillingdon Council might put us in a B&B. We have paid our rent on time the whole time we’ve lived here and done everything we were meant to do and now the thought of being put in a B&B is so demoralising.
“When I first found out it took me a good week to stop crying and I couldn’t talk to anyone. I still can’t face the thought of packing anything away.”
Carole was contacted in January 2018 and told the owner of the properties wished to sell. Like all the other tenants, she was given the option to buy her home for market value, in which she expressed interest.
However, she heard nothing back until December 12 when she informed the homes were being sold.
She said: “We are going to stick together and we are not going to go without a fight. Until they take us to court and get the bailiffs in, we are sitting it out.
“Even neighbours who aren’t affected are saying they will back us because this is a little tiny cul-de-sac and they don’t want the community we have here broken up.
“People have invested a lot of money into these homes. A family down the road, who have been living there for 22 years re-did their whole kitchen and even put new tarmac out the front, whereas when they moved in it only had one cupboard in the kitchen.”
A Barnet Council spokesman explained the homes would be going to people from Barnet “who are in genuine need of housing and accommodation”.
Responding to complaints that the homes are already “affordable” for those living there, he pointed out that the current tenants are “paying a lot more in rent than what someone receiving housing benefit would”.
He added: “There is an acute need for housing in London and there are no easy answers.
“Local authorities across the country often buy properties outside their own patch or borough. It was always the intention of the vendor to sell the properties.”
The purchase of the homes is just “one of a range of measures” Barnet Council is taking to meet housing need, such as “a major house building programme, including building an initial 320 council owned homes”, he said.
He said: “We will need to carry out refurbishment works to upgrade the properties to decent homes standards.
“We will be providing current residents extra support to help people find alternative accommodation through our letting agency Bumblebee, and are happy to discuss with long-standing tenants the option of remaining once the works are complete.”
However, Paul Gold, 33, who has lived in his current home for nine years, said he has heard nothing from Barnet Council about such support or returning to his home and only found out they were the buyers after searching online.
He said: “The first thing I thought when I heard was what a great Christmas present and it was a real shock because the last thing we heard was them offering for us to buy it.
“It’s possible we’re going to have to leave the area because the rent around here is about £400 more than what I pay a month even for a smaller property on top of £4,000 for fees and a deposit. Our neighbours say they might even have to leave London.
“My wife works in the local school and my children go to a local school and now we might have to disrupt all that.”
Paul is particularly worried for the sake of his disabled daughter, who suffers from the degenerative condition spina bifida and cannot handle stress or changes to routine easily.
He said: “We have had to fight with the school and the local hospital to get the right support for her and just when we have started to get somewhere, we’re potentially going to have to start again.
“Me and my wife are hardworking individuals who try to provide the best for our children, but someone always seems to take that away or prevent us from doing that.”
He added that he also felt let down by estate agent for the properties, R Whiteley & Co, who he claimed had “no compassion” and had stopped replying to messages.
A spokesman from R Whiteley & Co said: “Whilst we appreciate that it is never pleasant to have to give a tenant notice for possession, this has been done in accordance with the necessary legal requirements.
“We act only as managing agents for the current owners and are not involved in the sale of the properties. It is important to stress that the tenants are not being evicted.”
Current owners until the deal is finalised Palace Capital added that they had acted “in accordance with all the terms of the leases involved” and that they hoped “the situation can be resolved amicably” by Barnet Council.