A former care home which was illegally used for 30 tiny flats for five years is set to become 12 privately rented homes.
The four storey building in Holloway Road, which was once home to 24 elderly residents as Heritage Care, was a nuisance to neighbours from 2009 until last November while its occupants were paying £190-a-week to live in “undersized” studio flats.
A retrospective application made to Islington Council for the use of the building as 30 flats was rejected in 2011, with councillors saying the development provided “substandard accommodation” in terms of access to sunlight and daylight as well as outdoor space and exposure to air and noise pollution.
The council then served the owners with an enforcement order in October 2012 but the building was used as 30 flats until November 2014 due to a long appeal process started by current applicant Zeus Estates.
The property was also subject of an enforcement notice from London Fire Brigade over a catalogue of safety concerns.
But Zeus Estates latest plans – to turn the property in to one three-bedroom, eight two-bedroom and three one-bedroom flats with a shared garden and cycle storage – have been recommended for approval prior to a planning committee meeting tonight.
None of the 12 flats will be “affordable homes”, but an officer’s report on the application accepts Zeus Estates submission that affordable housing at the site is not financially viable.
Zeus will instead make a contribution of £25,295 towards affordable housing in the borough.
After the closure of Heritage Care permission was granted in September 2007 to use the property as “bedsits” with “communal living and dining facilities” and to accommodate homeless people with mental health problems.
However, from at least 2009 self-contained studio flats were being rented with kitchenettes and a separate washroom.
The council launched an attack on “shoebox” flats last year when it was discovered that 19 bedsit rooms at a former hostel, also in Holloway Road, were being rented out.
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