Evictions in Rushcroft Road, Brixton

[Gramsci]

As an update here is one of the properties in Rushcroft road that the Council has sold. I noticed in the window of a local estate agent its up for for rent:

"EXCLUSIVE TO HARMENS - Stunning, refurbished two bedroom, two bathroom (one en-suite) penthouse apartment located only moments away from the vibrant, cultural heart of Brixton."

for £1290pcm

http://www.harmens.co.uk/propertyde...d171e0f8f21f&dealtype=2&propertytype=lettings

 

[Crispy]

£1290pcm!!!!!

 

[miss minnie]

£1290pcm!!!!!

Not an uncommon amount for a newly refurbished 2 bedroom flat close to amenities these days.

edit: lol, oh yeah a penthouse apartment at that! cheap in that case...

 

[Crispy]

"penthouse" in this case means tiny windows, sloped ceilings and loads of stairs to climb
(unless they put a lift in?)

 

[editor]

"EXCLUSIVE TO HARMENS - Stunning, refurbished two bedroom, two bathroom (one en-suite) penthouse apartment located only moments away from the vibrant, cultural heart of Brixton."

So incredibly vibrant that the 'penthouse' is on the same street that my mate nearly got murdered on two weeks ago.

 

[editor]

"penthouse" in this case means tiny windows, sloped ceilings and loads of stairs to climb
(unless they put a lift in?)

I don't think there's a lift in there. Anyone climbing all those stairs may well be disappointed by the "penthouse" they find at the top, too.

 

[miss minnie]

"penthouse" in this case means tiny windows, sloped ceilings and loads of stairs to climb
(unless they put a lift in?)

In London 'penthouse' means the joy of not living with somebody stomping around on the floor above, who cares about views,terraces,pools or flamingos!

 

[Crispy]

true, true. And if they haven't done any major soundproofing, that means a lot in those Rushcroft road buildings - the floors are very thin

 

[Ms Ordinary]

When you squeeze a flat under the eaves of a roof, with just skylights & no windows in any vertical wall, isn't it usually called a garret?

 

[miss minnie]

When you squeeze a flat under the eaves of a roof, with just skylights & no windows in any vertical wall, isn't it usually called a garret?

In romantic European cities yes. In London its usually just called a loft conversion.

 

[teuchter]

More here and here

They are asking about 1400pcm for the 2 bed one but less for the 3 bed.

 

[Rushy]

More here and here

They are asking about 1400pcm for the 2 bed one but less for the 3 bed.

The 325 one is across the road - not the same landlord.
IIRC the 3 bedders were pretty small.

 

[porno thieving gypsy]

Yes - they were

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

true, true. And if they haven't done any major soundproofing, that means a lot in those Rushcroft road buildings - the floors are very thin

yep, my friend is in constant arguments with his upstairs neighbours about the noise levels of their footsteps.

 

[Rushy]

true, true. And if they haven't done any major soundproofing, that means a lot in those Rushcroft road buildings - the floors are very thin

They won't have been under any regulatory obligation to soundproof any except the loft flats because the others were in existence already - so it is just a refurbishment.

 

[Gramsci]

"penthouse" in this case means tiny windows, sloped ceilings and loads of stairs to climb
(unless they put a lift in?)

The idea that its a Penthouse did make me smile. As someone else posted its a garret.

 

[Gramsci]

I also think that if a developer could buy this building off the Council and in a short time do it up to sell why couldnt it have stayed as Council housing? There didnt seem to be any major structural repairs done by the Council so it was feasible imo for the Council to to up. They are supposed to keep properties that do not need more than £40 000 per unit to do up to Decent Homes Standard.

I know that there were Council tenants in at least one of the flats for a while.

 

[grit]

So incredibly vibrant that the 'penthouse' is on the same street that my mate nearly got murdered on two weeks ago.

In general do you consider that particular part of brixton unsafe?

 

[editor]

In general do you consider that particular part of brixton unsafe?

I don't consider any part of Brixton as being particularly 'unsafe', but there's areas where I'm a bit more wary than usual when it's late at night. Rushcroft Road is one of them, Somerleyton Road is another.

 

[Ms T]

Not Rushcroft Rd but some squatters in my street got evicted recently. The bailiffs smashed up all their furniture and the toilet while they were about it.

I'm ambivalent about squatting, tbh, but these particular squatters had made a real effort to get involved in the community and held cinema evenings in their house once a month. They also actively contributed to the street party. And now the house is boarded up and got knows when it will be renovated. I'm not holding my breath as another house that belongs to the council and suffered a serious fire two years ago is standing empty and waiting for major repairs. And they presumably have insurance money to pay for that.

 

[Gramsci]

The house will be left empty. This is what Lambeth Living do. They say they have "Zero Tolerance" policy towards squatting but then leave buildings empty. They have unofficial policy of letting street properties decline until they they cost to much to do up . So they have to sell them.

 

[gaijingirl]

What's the deal with all the flats that are boarded up with that dark grey metal? There's loads on my estate and I don't get why? We've got nice flats and there's supposed to be a housing shortage? They seem to get closed up and never reopened... ??

 

[Cowley]

there's supposed to be a housing shortage? They seem to get closed up and never reopened... ??

Aye, there are 3 Terraced Houses on the street I live on in Streatham that are Lambeth owned that are now empty, 1 of them boarded up, the other 2 just vacant. They've been this way for a couple of years now.

Housing Shortage? You wouldn't have thought so in Lambeth!

 

[Gramsci]

What's the deal with all the flats that are boarded up with that dark grey metal? There's loads on my estate and I don't get why? We've got nice flats and there's supposed to be a housing shortage? They seem to get closed up and never reopened... ??

They probably are not up to standard. Now that Lambeth are eliminating Short Life housing flats like this get left empty.

 

[gaijingirl]

I don't really understand .. sorry. I don't know what short life housing is. All I know is that our flat is lovely and there are plenty of other people who have really nice flats too. Are you saying that they rented them out for short lets and they got trashed and the council has closed them down rather than fix them up?

 

[miss minnie]

The council used to rent out 'uninhabitable' (anything not up to HC standards) properties on Short Life licences. Now that they can't do that the properties will stand empty until they are scheduled to be done up.

Short Life licences were the solution to squatting and dereliction in the 70's and 80's.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

i reckon I can think of at least 100 empty/boarded up properties in the Brixton area alone. I cycle/walk a lot and I spot new ones all the time. That's potentially 300+ people who could be given a home.

 

[gaijingirl]

The council used to rent out 'uninhabitable' (anything not up to HC standards) properties on Short Life licences. Now that they can't do that the properties will stand empty until they are scheduled to be done up.

Short Life licences were the solution to squatting and dereliction in the 70's and 80's.

ok - I understand now. Thanks.

It's shit though - I wish they'd just do them up - apart from the fact that it's good housing going to waste - it makes the rest of the place look like shit - there's lots of people doing all sorts to make their homes and the estate in general look nice, despite it not being the most aesthetically pleasing building - flowerpots along the walkways, veg growing in the communal garden etc... those boarded up flats don't exactly make the place feel homely...

 

[Gramsci]

The council used to rent out 'uninhabitable' (anything not up to HC standards) properties on Short Life licences. Now that they can't do that the properties will stand empty until they are scheduled to be done up.

Short Life licences were the solution to squatting and dereliction in the 70's and 80's.

The Council could use short life if it wanted to. Its made a political decision to "withdraw" from Short life.

 

[miss minnie]

The Council could use short life if it wanted to. Its made a political decision to "withdraw" from Short life.

But Short Life properties were classified as 'empty' and councils were forced to have less than x% (2? 6? or something) empty properties iirc, therefore councils (well certainly LBL) had to reduce their SL tenancies and not start new ones. Its been a while but that's how I remember it going down. Could be wrong though.