Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jo on September 24, 2017 at 18:20

Thank you, LJD. I have been doing and reporting for months, well nearly 9 months on my own but the council won't do much.

Today, first time, they closed at 5 pm which it should be. It all depends on how they feel so if they feel like opening before 7 or closing after 10 pm, it is up to them, that is what the owner told me. So far they have been opening at 6 am. I asked the worker and she said her boss told her to open at 6 am so I start to get the metal knocking noise, probably coffee making, with other preparation noise and music and people talking noise in the very early morning and till at least 10 pm and afterwards still the workers hang around in front of the business and the cleaning continues inside till nearly 11 pm.

During that time the floor drugging table and chair noises which is quite a loud squeaky noise echo to my room in addition to very loud taking voices continuously with music. I asked if they could put carpet or sorting out the internal walls where they made the wall thinner for putting some objects on the right side. also checking the structure of the internal design. But nothing has been done. The echoing those noises are heard in my front room, bathroom and kitchen.

I looked at many places in Bows Park, Muswell Hill, Bounds Green, Wood Green, Alexandra Palace and Turnpark Lane how the similar businesses are situated next to semidetached properties. I couldn't find the same a restaurant who runs a business during the same opening time as Piccolino. Some local resident whose house is semidetached to the business is most of them are closed during weekdays and open fewer hours. for example, one is post office without newsagent, another is Cyprus community house and another is a hairdresser and so on. Most businesses are not semidetached and most of the cases, there is a gap between the business and ordinally property. I pointed out this to the council but they replied to me my case is not uncommon. Even submitting the evidence, they don't do anything.

Recently, the owner said to me that they were selling the business to Jamaican so I would get more problems. How could you say like that....I couldn't believe what he said to me but I feel I can't believe whatever he says now as so many problems he caused has been always with dishonesty and not at all reasonable. I really would like to ask the council what equality and fairness mean to them. 

Neighbours are all business related and not helpful, unfortunately.

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Permalink Reply by Jo on September 25, 2017 at 9:38

Thank you for your advice, LJD. I really feel it all depends on the council officer. When the business was running as a laundrette in the past, when the landlord removed the ceiling inside, which he denied for months, my house started to get constant continuous echoing noises all day long. I reported probably more than 5 times and the council officers came but they didn't do anything and one officer told me I needed to check my ears. but one officer one day came and he said " you are living in a fish tank and this continuous noise needs to be investigated." a few days later, the noise completely gone disappeared as the landlord fixed the ceiling rather immediately. 

During the present case with the council, I asked to change the investigating officer who I felt not really investigating properly, who is a part-time assistant officer. But they ignored my request and last week the assistant officer sent me a letter telling the case is closed. 

I thought the council is for the local residents who want to lead a quiet life but I was wrong. I really would like to know why since most of the questions I asked the council has not been answered properly, although they granted the business to run in the community.

Thank you very much for the link above,LJD

I should be doing more to change the situation.

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Permalink Reply by Jo on September 28, 2017 at 20:53

Hi, LJD

Thank you very much indeed. I didn't know about it. Maybe I should choose discussion group about community news, issues and chat and information. 

Regards,

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Permalink Reply by Jo on September 24, 2017 at 18:39

Thank you, Ms. Jones. I had to use a solicitor this summer for asking them to put up a new fencing. They removed the fencing between us without informing me and entered my garden without permission one day while I was at work, and they left the areas without fencing for more than 4 months. In the meantime, I had no privacy and being overlooked while unknown workers and builders were all day every day often out of hours till after 10 pm and starting before 8 am talking loud and doing something almost all day long. It was a nightmare. Once the landlord told me that he has no money so I had to pay half for the new fencing whilst he told me that the fences belong to him. But he never showed me the evidence about it. I had been always maintaining the previous fencing after my partner built it. About 1.5 months later after the solicitor wrote to them, they put up the fencing but not the brick walls which they promised in writing in the past. 

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Permalink Reply by Jo on September 25, 2017 at 9:39

Yes, they told me, too....

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Permalink Reply by Lucia on October 13, 2017 at 19:24

Hi

Have you spoken to our local councillors?

https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&...

You could email or go to one of their surgeries face to face.

You need to present a very clear and simple log of the problems, with dates and times and photos. And of the times you have contacted the council/ who you reported it to and what they said. That will help.

I assume you did not have any noise trouble when it was part of the launderette?

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Jo on October 13, 2017 at 23:29

Hi, Lucia

Thank you very much for your advice. No, I didn't have any noise problems when the laundrette was running for recent years. however, some years ago, when the landlord of the laundrette removed the internal ceiling, the same echoing noise happened continuously all day long for months. Only one council officer acted and sorted the issue whilst 5 officers ignored my complaint... It took ages to sort it out. The landlord later confessed that he removed the ceiling and fixed it with the council's action. Till then, he was saying nothing was wrong on his side, though.

This time, it was worse. Took nearly 10 months to get it sorted. One of the councilors, I wrote to her and nothing changed, and then met her. She sounded not promising to sort out the issues. It was very sad. I felt She was part of the council which had not been doing anything to change the situation.  I, therefore, went further up.

Piccolino stopped the business now. It has been so quiet now as before. However, the landlord told me that I had to suffer again as they were getting another lessee to run the business for the next more than ten years. I wrote to him if he could be more reasonable to avoid further nuisance in the future. He said he would change all the tables. but I know just changing tables won't change the speech noises echoing to my house because they made the wall too thin between us when reforming. Also, the noise and smell from the extraction venting system are due to the system itself as well as its hight and direction. I looked at all central Haringey areas where the businesses have the extraction system and semi-detached to local residential houses. Took pictures of it. I also sent email to the council regarding licensing of his business in the future. 

The future is still uncertain, unfortunately. The landlord of this property 1 Maidstone Rd is just unbelievable. I really wish he could be more decent...

The small cafe with laundrette half /half was really cool, I remember now. But since they changed it all to a restaurant, all went wrong in addition of the extraction venting. They could have been more cleverly run the business investing money and planning it properly as part of the community. They employed an architecture who had a beautiful idea of its appearance inside but he didn't really care about the structure of the semi-detached houses and the layout of the back sides at all. An obvious fact from the beginning but they didn't want to admit.That's what I feel and I am just exhausted now.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Kitching on October 15, 2017 at 17:45

Junko, I noticed the 'under new management' signs in the windows.  Do you think this means the business was not successful and changes might be made?  I saw people outside drinking coffee but I did not see many people eating there.  If it reopens as a restaurant I hope the new management are more considerate.

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Permalink Reply by Jo on October 15, 2017 at 19:23

Thank you for your comment.

I think the landlord of the property will decide who is next to be the lessee to run the business. I know the landlord basically doesn't care much about who is next as well as next door. All he needs is rent/money seems to me, well always like that for years. The walls and internal structures, the layout of it, back windows and the extraction venting system have been unchanged so far. It means whoever comes next, the same noise and smell problems will be back. The back garden has an old shed which the builders said that it contains asbestos. I have spoken to the landlord as he was responsible for it. He always says there is no asbestos. He, however, put a new ceiling inside of the shed last summer. I could see that as there was no fencing as he removed the fences between us without telling me, cutting my plants and entering my garden while I was at work, and kept it undone without fences for months until my solicitor sent a letter to him.  They also put desks and chairs and bed in the shed. I was wondering he might be letting someone stay there. He used to plan to build 2 bedroom flat using whole his back garden and got permission from the council, which was extremely upsetting. However, he didn't build it afterward. then this lessee business was granted by the council. He also removed big trees at the back with permission given by the council in the meantime. The council told him to plant new trees but he has never done so the privacy issue is still ongoing. I feel the council is really giving permissions to those business people like him without caring about local residents nearby. 

"New management" sounds so fake to me, I am afraid to say..., and I from bottom of my heart know from years of experience of how he does his business, he won't be considerate. 

On the other side, 5 Maidstone Road, Maidstone House, has another new business now called Next Step Support. People in the house started to cause banging noise caused by a ball kicked onto the fences while doing football in the back garden recently with loud voices and music from a mobile phone in the evening. Despite the fact that the police told me that it was asbo and needed to report the incident to the council one day, the council told me they can't do much to prevent further problems. One of the guys actually came into my garden at 11 pm and stood still in front of my back window for at least 20 mins till police arrived some time ago... I felt very vulnerable. I was chased by another of the people who live there in front of my house/entrance being repeatedly approached as well. 

I really don't know what will happen to my life next. Very sad.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jo on October 15, 2017 at 20:31

Hi, if so, it is highly possible that I need to be patient with reforming noises again during this autumn and winter....again.... I vividly remember the worker and builders used to do their job out of hours including Sunday even after 10 pm. And that work started last Nov and lasted for months till Piccolino opened last summer. There are many things I didn't mention here. Too many to mention. They need to change the extraction venting at the back I really hope. Not only inside.., I really hope so. Worst things all happened at the back side of the business. Many workers used to hang in the garden talking loud almost continuously one or more after another almost all day and all evening till nearly 11 pm from Mon to Sun, every day.... I just feel hopeless now to know that another cafe is coming up.

Permalink Reply by Jo on October 29, 2017 at 21:49

I am writing to ask if anyone in this community could help me to object a new planning of the landlord of 1 Maidstone Road, which very recently he applied to the Haringey council, please. I feel I can't do this on my own. The link to his planning application is as follows;

http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...

I don't know what will happen to the front restaurant side at the moment but the landlord told me that they will start to run cafe restaurant in the near future again as they already have permission to do so. The council replied to me saying that they were not really changing any regulations and the extraction venting system MUST remain as it is as well as the thin walls they made between semi-detached houses. I learnt that at the end the council won't support my side at all after they granted the previous permission. 

Now, the landlord is going to build a yoga place in the middle of their back garden... From the past experience, it is highly possible that the place can be changed in its use in the future for other uses as he likes. He once granted by the council to build 2 bedroom flat there. If the front cafe restaurant reopens and yoga place at the back garden, as it was already noisy with their workers hanging in their garden from before 7 am till nearly 11pm when Piccolino was running, I am not sure how many people will be hanging around next to my garden all day and in the evening with those 2 businesses start. It is not a public communal area there.

The shed in their garden, according to the builder, has asbestos and I am very worried about how he deal with it as well.

I would be most grateful if anyone could support me to object his new planning, please.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Regards,

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Permalink Reply by Monika Ka-Ha on November 18, 2017 at 0:21

Hi Junko,

I have been following this post for a while and I must say it is very difficult to understand where the fault lies.

The link to the planning application you have forwarded does not seem beyond reason – the building is already there – it will only be improved and slightly enlarged. I understand you must be sharing the boarder to the back of the new outbuilding therefore you are from the southern side and any changes to its size should not impact your access to sunlight? And if there is asbestos in the outbuilding – it should be better for you that the current outbuilding is demolished and replaced with a more modern structure?

I understand it must be difficult having a residential property neighbouring a property which has business premises but from the planning history of the property I understand these were there from at least the fifties, likely from when the building was originally built so you must have known that business activities would be taking place from when you moved in?

It must be very frustrating to have noise in your garden, did you try talking to staff to explain how much their talking bothers you? They probably don’t realise how much noise they are making while they are in the middle of their work day.

From my perspective as a local resident, I enjoyed the improvement the restaurant made to the area around the station. I enjoyed the brief period of time when there was a lovely café and a restaurant to take my family to. It was a nice change from kebab and chicken shops that dominate the area and are not family-friendly at all. Coffee was great value and was lovely. It was also an improvement over laundrette and a huge improvement over an empty shop with blocked windows it is now.

Personally, I would welcome a yoga studio in the area too.

I am very sorry to hear it causes you so much trouble as for us it was all good change…

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