Tenants may be homeless as council orders EIGHT homes to be demolished

Families face being kicked out of cramped homes after developers illegally turned a site meant for storage units into a row of rental houses.

The eight terraced properties in Lewisham, south London, were built on a narrow plot behind shops even though the land only received permission for warehouses.

Instead, Eden Park Property Ltd put up a row of two-storey houses and named it Kanli Mews – after co-directors Husayin, Koray and Sanel Kanli.

The properties were then rented out to unsuspecting tenants for upwards of £1,050 a month.

Now, those still living there must find somewhere else to live after Lewisham Council ordered the ‘substandard’ homes to be demolished. 

One tenant, 50-year-old Magbule Selyahtinova, has lived in Kanli Mews for around five years – unaware that the houses were illegally built.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I’m stressed because I have nowhere to go. We’re stuck in limbo. Where will we go?’

‘We have so much luggage, so many things here, we’re under a lot of stress, and basically nobody will rent to us.

‘We went to the council and we’re waiting, we don’t have an answer there either.’ 

She added: ‘Nobody is pressuring me right now, but this thing is hanging over us, because today, tomorrow, whenever it is, we have to move out.’

Mrs Selyahtinova, who is Turkish, told how those living in Kanli Mews were unaware the homes had been built without permission. 

She explained other tenants, including her daughter, had already left for new accommodation after finding out the houses would eventually be destroyed. 

But Mrs Selyahtinova said she and her husband are stuck there while paying more than £1,000 a month in rent, adding: ‘We’re looking for a rental, but nobody will rent to us. That’s why we can’t move out.

‘My back hurts, I can’t work, my husband can’t work, and since we’re on Universal Credit nobody will give us a house.

‘I don’t know when I have to move out, because there’s nowhere for me to go. When they tell me to go, I’ll go.’

She said three families are left at Kanli Mews and are searching for new accommodation. 

‘Most people moved out. My daughter was here too and she moved, most people moved,’ she said. 

‘We can’t find any. They won’t lease to us because we’re getting help, and nobody will rent to us like that.’

Lewisham Council granted planning permission in 2009 for existing garages to be demolished and turned into eight storage units.

Eden Park Properties – which describes itself as ‘a small family business’ whose ethos ‘is to always have time for our tenants’ – bought the site in 2018 and turned the building into housing.

Council planners issued an enforcement notice in 2021 calling on the developers to demolish the site ‘in its entirety’ or convert it into storage units.

The developers appealed first in 2023 – only for the independent planning inspectorate to this month back the council’s initial order.

In a scathing decision, inspector Timothy King ruled the houses were too small, had no proper outdoor space and were not good enough for people to live in.

He said the homes – each just 50 square metres in size – offered a ‘poor standard of accommodation’ and were an ‘unacceptable form of development’.

The ruling added: ‘The development, as exists, is harmful to the character of the surrounding area and does not add to its overall quality.’

Eden Park Properties must now either demolish the houses or rebuild the site in line with the original approved plans.

The land has since been put up for sale with no guide price.

Sales details warn buyers: ‘Eight two-storey houses built in 2018 need to be demolished, then it requires the construction of a two-storey commercial building for warehouse or light industrial use.’

Eden Park Property Limited refused to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.

Husayan Kanli claimed: ‘There’s no issue at all. There’s no-one living there.’

When it was pointed out that tenants remained at the address, Mr Kanli ended the call.

The firm’s website describes the company as having an approach ‘based on a strong desire to always enrich, never take away from, the local surroundings and community’.

‘Key to the way we work is the long-term relationships we look to build, nurture and maintain with our tenants, many of whom have been with us for many years, even as they move from one property to the next,’ it adds.

A new planning application submitted last year by Eden Park to turn the illegal terrace into five residential homes is yet to be determined by Lewisham Council.