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An Evening Standard investigation and local council checks found former police stations in the Isle of Dogs and Southgate being marketed and occupied as residential rooms without planning consent, with tenants living in cramped conditions and paying up to \u00a31,300 a month. Enfield has served a planning enforcement notice and joined the London Fire Brigade in safety inspections, but a subsequent bid to licence the site as an HMO has exposed tensions between urgent homelessness placements, regulatory duties and the need for tighter post\u2011sale oversight of public assets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Investigations by local authorities and reporters have uncovered that a number of former London police stations sold off in recent years have been marketed and used as residential accommodation without the necessary planning consents. An Evening Standard investigation focused on properties in the Isle of Dogs and Southgate after rooms were discovered being advertised for rent and occupied in ways that appear to sidestep planning controls and safety checks. According to the original report, pictures from inside the properties showed cramped rooms and tenants paying between \u00a3800 and \u00a31,300 a month. (Evening Standard and related site visits prompted an enforcement response.) <\/p>\n
Local councils launched probes after concerns emerged during routine visits and following complaints from neighbours. Tower Hamlets carried out site visits to the Isle of Dogs property and issued enforcement warnings after finding rooms being let without planning permission. The Evening Standard linked the Isle of Dogs sale to DN Private Equity and recalled an earlier discovery at the site of what had been described as a cannabis factory, raising further worries about management and oversight of such conversions. <\/p>\n
In Enfield, the council moved more swiftly to formal action. Enfield Council announced on 8 January 2025 that it had served a planning enforcement notice on the owner of the former Southgate Police Station on Chase Side after council investigations confirmed unlawful occupation and adverts marketing rooms for rent without consents. The council stated that occupants included people placed there by homelessness teams from other London boroughs. <\/p>\n
The enforcement notice set a compliance timetable: the owner was ordered to cease using the building as a hostel and to remove furniture and internal facilities within three months, with the compliance period beginning on 31 January 2025. Enfield Council said it was working with the London Fire Brigade to address fire\u2011safety deficiencies identified during inspections. Industry titles summarised the same regulatory steps and emphasised the council\u2019s insistence on remedial action. <\/p>\n
Local reporting provides additional context on how the occupation developed and how neighbours reacted. Enfield Dispatch reported that councillors were told occupants had been present since the previous autumn and that some had been placed at the property by other councils; residents voiced concerns about safety, the building\u2019s management and the absence of planning approval for a previously proposed conversion into a 65\u2011room hostel. Those accounts underline the practical problems councils face when formerly public buildings enter private hands and are repurposed piecemeal. <\/p>\n
The pattern of enforcement has produced a more complicated regulatory picture. By June 2025 the council was deliberating an HMO (house in multiple occupation) licence application for the Southgate building despite the earlier planning enforcement notice. Reporting at the time set out the council\u2019s position: after inspections with the London Fire Brigade and proposed reconfiguration and improvements, officers recommended granting a two\u2011year HMO licence permitting up to forty occupiers subject to conditions. Critics argued that licensing the use sat uneasily with the council\u2019s previous planning objections; the council said it was bound to assess HMO applications in line with legal duties. <\/p>\n
Industry publications and housing\u2011sector outlets have highlighted that Enfield\u2019s action is not an isolated case. Trade reporting noted the formal notice and the role of homelessness placements in filling beds at the former police station, while landlord\u2011facing titles summarised enforcement steps and the fire\u2011safety concerns that prompted joint inspections with the London Fire Brigade. Taken together, these accounts suggest a recurring challenge for London boroughs: ensuring that properties sold out of the public estate are converted legally, safely and with adequate oversight. <\/p>\n
The situation raises questions about the oversight of converted public buildings, the responsibility of private owners and the duty of local authorities when people who are homeless are placed into accommodation by different boroughs. Enfield\u2019s enforcement notice and subsequent licensing debate show the tension between planning control, urgent housing needs and regulatory obligations on councils and landlords\u2014including addressing fire\u2011safety and management failures identified on inspection. Industry reporting has urged closer coordination between planning, licensing and homelessness teams to prevent future breaches and to protect vulnerable residents. <\/p>\n
What has become clear from the reporting and council statements is that elected authorities are prepared to use enforcement powers where conversions do not comply with planning or safety rules, but that enforcement alone may not resolve underlying pressures in the housing and homelessness systems that drive demand for low\u2011cost rooms. The Evening Standard\u2019s investigation, council notices and trade coverage together make a case for tighter post\u2011sale monitoring of public assets and clearer lines of accountability when former civic buildings are re\u2011used as residential accommodation. <\/p>\n