Developers who piled more flats onto houses in Lambeth without permission are taking a case to the Government

A pair of developers who have crammed 14 flats into two adjoining properties intended to hold just six are locked in a battle with a south London council over the future of the extra flats. In February, Lambeth Council issued two enforcement notices ordering the owners of 7 and 9 Rita Road in Vauxhall to stop using the unauthorized flats in the two properties and remove them by October.

But two appeals were lodged against the council’s order in April, claiming the enforcement notices would have “very serious implications for the existing tenants living in the flats”. The Planning Inspectorate – a government body that deals with planning appeals – will now make a decision on the future of the flats.

According to the enforcement notices issued by the council, the unauthorized apartments result in ‘substandard, cramped and overintensive accommodation to the detriment of current/future occupants’. The dwellings “have not adopted the minimum recommended spatial standards, lack storage space and have increased opportunities for noise impact between apartments,” according to the notice.

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A “family-sized apartment” created in the basement in each of the properties is particularly criticized. The apartment in each building is described as offering “dreary living space and inadequate outlook” and having “unsustainable dependence on artificial light”.

Building work to create the additional flats appears to have started on the two properties sometime between 2021 and 2022, shortly after Lambeth Council accepted a planning application to make changes to 7-9 Rita Road in April 2021. The plans approved include the erection of a rear loft extension, the creation of a basement lightwell and internal alterations to the two properties, but do not mention the addition of more flats.

The planning application approved in 2021 was submitted by Glenhazel Ltd, according to details filled in on a Lambeth Council form. According to Companies House – the government registry of UK companies – the sole officer of this company is Muhammad Nadeem Siddiqi, a chartered accountant.

Mr Siddiqi is also the officer of a company called Henley Beech Limited, which appealed against Lambeth Council’s enforcement action at 7 Rita Road to the Planning Inspectorate.

The company is registered to the same address on Trinity Road in Tooting, south London, as Glenhazel Ltd. When the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited the address on Tuesday (May 21), it turned out to be a block of land subdivided into a number. of apartments.

Another company, Ascot Gate Limited, appealed the enforcement action at 9 Rita Road. Muahmmad Nadeem Siddiqi is a former officer at this company but resigned in July 2022.

Ascot Gate Limited is registered at a residential block on Tooting High Street. Sophia Amejee is listed as the managing director of the company. She was appointed as an officer at the company on the same day Siddiqi resigned.

Tenants are believed to have moved into the flats at the two Rita Road properties after building work was completed last year and are renting through a lettings agency. When LDRS visited on Monday (May 20), a resident living in a one-bedroom flat said he was paying £1,800 a month to live there. Another tenant who rented a studio in one of the properties said he was paying £1,400 a month.

Speaking anonymously, one resident said she only found out her flat did not have planning permission after receiving a copy of the enforcement notice in the post from the council. She said: “It’s frustrating. I’ve moved to London seven times, but I’ve never had a situation like this. It’s annoying because I love the area. It is so central. The rental agency emailed me asking if I wanted to renew. . It will cost £50 more (per month, I don’t know what to do now).

Oliver Johnson, 25, who lives next door at 9 Rita Road, was less enthusiastic about the new flats next door. Speaking last week (May 15), he said: “People think London is too expensive and the rent is so expensive, so why not share these flats because people will move into them? But you shouldn’t cram as many people into a city as possible.”

After visiting several properties in an attempt to reach Siddiqi, LDRS eventually tracked him down a suburban street in Croydon. In an email, Siddiqi said: “Due to customer confidentiality, I cannot provide any information. All relevant information will be provided to the London Borough of Lambeth.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service was unable to reach Sophia Amejee for comment on the issues raised in this article.

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