Excalibur

The Excalibur estate in Catford is a post-war housing estate of prefab homes. Plans to regenerate the estate and build 371 new homes were approved in April 2011.

It is intended that ownership of the properties will transfer from the council to L&Q housing association.

As the Council is intending to demolish properties in phases 1 – 3 in the next 5 years, it has served an initial demolition notice (IDN) on all secure tenants in these phases, in order to suspend completion of Right to Buy (RTB) applications received after January 17 2005.

Demolition Notices

Demolition notices are Government legislation that councils are allowed to use if they intend to demolish properties within the next 5 years. The initial demolition notice (IDN) suspends completion on Right to Buy (RTB) applications received after January 17 2005.

After an IDN has been served, a final demolition notice (FDN) may be served up to a year prior to the demolition, after which the right to buy cannot be exercised.

The IDN’s are:

published in a local paper
put on the Council’s website
hand delivered to all affected secure tenants.

The notice must state:

which properties are being demolished, when and why
the date that the notice ceases to be in force
that the Right to Buy application cannot complete while the notice is in force, and that all current RTB applications are suspended
that compensation will be payable for reasonable expenditure incurred and how to claim it.

Compensation

If a tenant has already applied for their RTB, they maybe entitled to compensation if they make a claim to the Council within 3 months of the notice coming into effect. Compensation would be likely to cover reasonable legal and other relevant professional fees and must be accompanied by receipts.

If the council decides not to demolish they must serve a revocation notice.

For more information contact Rachel George on 020 8314 8146.

Published on: 31/05/2020