North London families given 2 weeks' notice of eviction by council then told 'nothing is permanent'

A North London council is facing criticism after being accused of giving two single parent families with young children just two weeks' notice of eviction from their temporary accommodation. The Cabinet Member for Housing at Harrow Council apologised for the short timeframe but insisted the tenants are aware that 'nothing is permanent' for them.

The issue was raised by an opposition councillor at a recent meeting of Harrow Council's Cabinet (November 14), who claimed two women with young children had an eviction notice stuck on their doors on November 6, informing them they had to vacate the property by November 21. The temporary accommodation is located on Grange Farm, which is the subject of a three-phase redevelopment project set to deliver 574 new homes in the borough.

The Grange Farm Estate was granted planning permission for the redevelopment in 2019, with the commencement of the latest phase, Phase 2, known about 'for many months', according to opposition councillors.

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Addressing the Cabinet, the Shadow Portfolio Holder for Performance, Communications and Customer Services, Cllr Eden Kulig, said it was 'really worrying' to hear about the two-week notice period given, and claims the families were given 'no information about where they might be rehoused'.

Cllr Kulig added: "This caused a great deal of anxiety and stress, particularly to those with young children settled in local schools. Residents should not be expected to pack up their lives and homes with two weeks' notice when this estate redevelopment has been on the cards for months, and the council needs to pro-actively communicate with residents impacted by estate redevelopments with much more notice.

"[...] Two weeks is a really short timeframe for people with children in local schools, with busy lives. They didn't have any information about where they might be moved to, they didn't have any information about the help they might have with moving."

The Portfolio Holder for Housing, Cllr Mina Parmar, apologised that the tenants 'didn't get sooner notice' but suggested that residents are aware that 'nothing is permanent' in Grange Farm. She said: "We need to progress with the regeneration of Grange Farm, that's why we require the properties currently being used as temporary accommodation to be vacant."

She added: "We are committed to ensure that these families are supported to be rehoused and we have put some processes in place to support them to achieve this. Some of the things we are doing is each family has access to a dedicated officer as their primary point of contact, alternative properties have already been sourced to relocate the families before the eviction dates, we are [also] providing removals and storage assistance as required.

"We are also providing financial support which will be available to help the families secure private rental properties. I believe one family has already done that."

However, Cllr Kulig pointed out that it wasn't the fact that the properties would need to be vacated for the redevelopment project that was contentious, but the timeframe given to tenants in which they were required to move and questioned whether two weeks' notice is council policy.

Harrow Council Leader, Cllr Paul Osborn, responded that he 'wouldn't have thought' it was the policy of the council but raised concerns about further discussion of the cases. He said: "I'm very worried about talking about individual cases in a public meeting. We are specifically talking about individual cases where we are hearing a side of the story, which I do not know the extent to which it is accurate or not."

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