A Brighton woman is afraid her house could crumble when a student landlord starts extending into the basements, lofts and gardens either side of her home.
Ros Lopez lives in a tiny street behind the old London Road Co-Op, and of the six houses, developers Jeremy and Emma Barrett now own four, all of which they are planning on extending.
Ms Lopez, who has already suffered years of noise, damage and disruption from the Co-Op being converted to student housing, has now been served party wall notices and told the work will start in two weeks.
Her surveyor has told her this will lead to inevitable damage, and to expect her loft walls to crumble, her garden wall to fall down and a tree to die.
And when it’s complete, she fears all four houses will be let out to students, despite the fact this will probably breach the council’s rule that there should be no new houses of multiple occupation where there are more than 10% such homes within a 50m radius.
Ms Lopez said: “They are going to dig below the foundations on both sides of my house and put massive RSJs through the walls on both sides of my loft and put two huge dormers on, which is going to do huge damage to my house.”
And it’s not just the lofts – earlier this year, a house in Over Street in the North Laine collapsed halfway through a basement excavation, which was rumoured to be caused by a previously unidentified sewer.
“I’m honestly quite scared that my house will be seriously damaged. Before my neighbour moved out last month, his ceiling came down because they’re just so old, and that was just his kids jumping out of bed.
“I’ve barely had the chance to recover from the hell of the last three years and I don’t know how I am going to cope with the stress of another long period of loud building noise and my house being damaged yet again.”
Then when the extensions are finished, Ms Lopez believes that Mr and Mrs Barrett, who live in Faversham, will lease them out to students. Of the six houses in the street, two already have an HMO licence in the Barrett’s name and are managed by student lettings agency G4 Lets.
She said: “They’re making it into a massive student development. Why is the owner extending them into six or seven bedroom houses and getting G4 Lets to manage them if they don’t intend to put students in them?
“I’m facing the prospect of being the only resident homeowner in the street.”
Ms Lopez says that when the Co-Op was developed, it caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to her house, which she had to enlist Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas’s help to get put right.
And now, she fears there’s little she can do to stop it happening all over again. She said: “I’m overwhelmed really. It seems like I’m completely powerless. They just have an answer for everything.
“And I can’t sell as all the estate agents have said there’s no way you will sell at the moment for market value.”
A proper study would have to be done for each application to convert a family home into an HMO, but of the 113 houses in London Terrace and neighbouring Kingsbury Road and Rose Hill Terrace, 11 already have HMO licences.
I don’t think much help will be forthcoming from Caroline Lucas this time. She won’t want to do anything to harm her popularity with the student population. After all, they are the ones who keep her in power.
It’s unlikely to bother the student population much!