Islington council's health and safety teams to investigate tiny, expensive flat

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/04/tiny-flat-investigation-health-safety

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A tiny studio flat that has become a symbol of London's soaring property prices is to be investigated by planning, environmental health and fire safety authorities after the Guardian revealed details of its shoebox-like proportions.

The property, in Kember Street, near King's Cross, sparked an online furore after it was offered for rental at £170 a week or £737 a month, only to be snapped up in less than 16 hours.

Though marketed as a "modern studio apartment", the flat seemed to consist of little more than a small room into which had been crammed a double mattress, a wardrobe and several fitted kitchen units, leaving barely enough room to open the front door or walk round the bed, plus a separate toilet and shower.

Paul Convery, who represents the Caledonian ward on Islington council for Labour, told the Guardian he had prompted the council's planning inspectorate to investigate after seeing photographs of the flat, saying he suspected it had been created by subdividing an existing studio flat without planning permission.

It would also be viewed by Islington's housing standards team, he said. "There are basic, minimum standards set in law, a series of risks that are involved in substandard housing, so it will be tested [according to] those. I don't know if it will fall foul of those minimum standards, but I'm damn sure that, if this is a subdivision without planning permission, then the wheels will turn."

Convery has also asked the fire service to inspect the flat to ensure it conforms to fire safety standards, he said.

But the owner of the block in which the tiny flat is situated insisted he had appropriate planning permission for the 40 individual residential units in the four-storey building.

Andrew Panayi, a well-known local landlord who owns multiple properties in the immediate vicinity, told the Guardian: "The property does have planning. It's been checked several times by the environmental health and the planning department. We have not subdivided units." He said he had bought the property, a former hostel, in 2003.

Panayi said the photograph chosen by the estate agent Relocate Me "didn't do justice" to the flat. "They didn't photograph the bathroom or the [communal] roof terrace." The particulars had also failed to mention the fact that central heating, internet and unlimited hot water were included in the price, he said.

Despite its tiny proportions, the property was let within less than 16 hours of its listing early on Tuesday morning, after the estate agents received more than 20 calls and a similar number of emails.

Convery said the borough, like other London council areas, had "hundreds and hundreds" of landlords renting out substandard or poorly managed properties.

"We're mainly talking about young 20-somethings, students, new arrivals in London and European visitors. They are exploited on an industrial scale, but they are often not really complaining about it because the price of living in zone 1 or 2, and most of London, is so extortionate now that they are prepared to shrug their shoulders and make that trade-off between quality and price."

An Islington Council spokesman said: "We take alleged breaches of planning rules and the housing acts very seriously, and are seeking to gain access to this property to investigate fully and rigorously.

"We will take robust action if any planning controls or housing acts are being breached."