The good, the bad and criminal of Forest Gate's Lettings Agents

Newham Council became the first in the country to publish a ratings scheme for residential lettings agencies, last autumn - with agents being awarded from zero to five stars, depending on their performance.

  
Below, we produce their verdict on the 28 Forest Gate agents they reviewed - and have comments on some that they haven't. The ratings scheme exists to complement the licensing scheme the council operates for private sector landlords in the borough, and covered recently by this site, here.

The agency scheme judges the companies according to which agents failed to: refund renters deposits, failed to pass on rental income to landlords, charged unreasonable fees or failed to address complaints.

4 stars for Romford Road's Century 21

70,000 Newham households are in the private rented sector - so a majority of local residents will have an interest in the results of the scheme's publication.

Newham's scheme is supported by major organisations with not-for-profit housing interests, such as Shelter, Peabody and Generation Rent - the campaigning body.

A brief summary of what lettings' agency practices are likely to attract what ratings would be:

0 stars - The agent would have attracted a relevant criminal conviction within the last five years. Newham has not award zero stars to any local agent, a fact we consider towards the end of this article.

1 star - Compliance failure with a local code of conduct, or receipt of a caution of inappropriate behaviour over the last two years.

2 stars - The agent has not been receipt of any compliance failure notice for a period of two years.

3 stars - The agent is a fully complaint business, with no recent failures or convictions.

3 stars at C&S of Romford Road 
- and while there, why not book
 a holiday?

4 stars - The agent is a fully compliant business and a member of at least one relevant professional body.

5 stars - A fully complaint business with no tenants' fees, or one which provides a credit ratings service for tenants.

No Forest Gate agency has achieved five stars. East Ham's McDowell's became the first in the borough to do so - coinciding with the publication of the scheme in October last year.

159 lettings agents are covered by the Newham scheme over the whole borough, including 28 in Forest Gate, of which:

3 (2%) in total - 0 in Forest Gate (0%)  - have 5 stars

44 (30%) in total - 3 in Forest Gate (11%) - have 4 stars

79 (52%) in total - 20 in Forest Gate (74%) - have 3 stars

8 (5%) in total - 1 in Forest Gate (4%) - have 2 stars

17 (11%) in total - 3 in Forest Gate (12%) - have 1 star

0 (0%) in total - 0 in Forest Gate (0%) - have 0 stars

9 (6%)  in total - 1 in Forest Gate (4%) - are pending a rating figure

The agents below are rated in alphabetical order within each star category

**** stars Forest Gate lettings agents

Century 21 - 450 Romford Road

Sparemove - 9 Railways Station Bridge, Woodgrange Road

Your Move - 176-7, Forest Lane

4 Stars - Your Move

*** stars Forest Gate lettings agents

Agha Properties/The Best Properties - 482 Katherine Road

Beautiful Estates - 438 Katherine Road

4 stars for Beautiful Estates

C+S Property - 520 Romford Road

CMS Homes - 503 Katherine Road -

Hamar Property Services - 299 Romford Road

Key 2 Key - 120 Upton Lane

3 for Key to Key

Knightsbridge Estates - 179 Forest Lane

Let, Sell, Property - 34 Green Street

Mak Property - 95 Woodgrange Road

Marvel Estates - 367 Katherine Road

Nest Property - 414 Katherine Road
Patrap Property Co - 202b Green Street
Phase Property Services - 89 Upton Lane

Phase Property Services - 89 Upton Lane

Remax (now called MasterClass Properties)- 471 Romford Road

3 stars for Remax of Romford Road - now rebranded MasterClass properties

Saji Property Services - 196 Shrewsbury Road

Spencers - 70 Woodgrange Road

Stirling and Co - 29 Upton Lane

TS Property Services - 449 Katherine Road

Whites - 521 Katherine Road

Wilkinson's - 78 Woodgrange Road

** stars Forest Gate lettings agents

Ace Property Services - Citygate House, 246 Romford Road

A not so ace 2 stars for Ace Property Services

* star Forest Gate lettings agents

Godefred Property - 130 Upton Lane

Londinium - 400 Romford Road

Just 1 star for Londinium

M + M property - 501 Katherine Road

Big National names, elsewhere in Newham

Bairstow Eves (Stratford) - 4 stars

Haart (East Ham and Stratford) - 4 stars

Keatons (Stratford) - 4 stars

Century 21 (Stratford) - 2 stars

Foxton's (Stratford) - 1 star

A lowly one star for Straford's
"top end of the market" Foxton's

Old Friends

Newham Council has been a little coy in some of its categorisations. 

According to the criteria for each star, listed at the top of this article, lettings agents with relevant criminal convictions related to their business within the last five years, should be awarded zero stars under the scheme. Yet the council lists no agents with zero stars in its published details.

But, as we showed in our recent feature on local criminal landlords (see here for details), the council has successfully prosecuted three local lettings agents over the last year, for relevant offences. None, however, has been listed as having zero stars in the register that the council is proud to promote as challenging and innovative.  The council has fudged the issue. 

Filtons - despite criminal convictions,
 listed as "status pending"

Filton's - 190 High Street, Stratford and SM Properties 468, Katherine Road, are both of which are listed as status "pending inspection". Barclays Estates of Upton Lane - isn't listed at all in the council's register.  

The zero ratings these agencies should have been awarded would clearly have been very bad for business for them; surely, the whole purpose of the register.  The council's fudge, however, has meant that they can continue trading, apparently untarnished by a poor agency rating.

Filton's is a lettings agent, which is currently advertising 20 properties on its website - the vast majority in Newham.  The company clearly has a cavalier attitude to its business and social responsibilities. To quote its website:

We are an estate and property management group run by some of the most disruptive minds in the industry ... We .. play hard, without the bureaucracy (ed: like abiding by Housing legislation, apparently). ... We don't do uppity suits and fake smiles. That's why we're turning the industry upside down ... And we're pushing boundaries for clients with new revenue streams, managed short lets and award winning marketing .

The company's intolerance of the niceties of the law got them into trouble on 7 June 2017, when they were fined £5,000 for a failure to display accurately display their letting fees on their premises, as required by consumer protection law.

As we said in our article on Forest Gate's criminal landlords:

Any would-be tenant considering using Filton's is advised to search its Facebook presence. Its services are rated by 10 people - seven of them giving the firm only one star out of five.

SM Properties was fined £4,000 on 13 September 2017 for a failure to display its letting fees appropriately, within its premises.

Painful convictions for Katherine
 Road's SM properties, but Newham
 coyly leaves it as an agency "pending"
inspection, rather than giving it the
zero stars, as its classification
 criteria state it should have

Barclays Estates of 86 Upton Lane has been fined three times, following convictions instituted by the Council, but is not listed as even existing in the council's lettings agency register - see photo below as evidence to the contrary.

Above - Barclays Estates signage before

 the prosecutions, below, after prosecutions

Uncle Joe knew where you lived!

A timely post, as the media is awash with stories of Russian spies.

Newham Bookshop and the Wanstead Tap recently hosted a great evening of author John Davies talking about his recently published book, The Red Atlas (see footnote for details). We were delighted when he agreed to write an article about it - and its references to Forest Gate, in particular for this website.

In the article below, John tells the story of the book, in relation to East London.

At the foot of the article, there is a small section specifically commenting on Forest Gate, through the eyes of the cartographers.  In all cases, it should be possible to increase the size of the map on your screen, by clicking on it - to follow the captions.

John writes:

Do you live in ОЛДЕРСБРУК, ФОРЕСТ-ГЕЙТ, МАНОР-ПАРК, УОНСТЕД or ЛЕИТОНСТОН?

If so, then during the Cold War, Uncle Joe (that’s Churchill’s ironic nickname for the Russian dictator Stalin) – and all his successors through to Gorbachev, certainly knew all about your district, your road, even your house.

For Aldersbrook, Forest Gate, Manor Park, Wanstead and Leytonstone (as we know them) were among the places featured in incredible detail in a series of maps created and maintained by the Red Army throughout the period from the end of the Second World War until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992.

Forest Gate area, with Aldersbrook and
 Manor Park named in Cyrillic. The
 Central Line is labelled ‘метро’ (metro)
 and Leyton station is marked with M,
 unlike the stations on the other lines.

The four-sheet map of Greater London, for example, from which these extracts are taken, was compiled in 1980 and printed in 1985. It is at the scale of 1:25,000 (about 2½ inches to the mile, the same as the familiar Ordnance Survey Explorer maps), with a supplementary booklet listing nearly 400 ‘Important Objects’, a street index, a descriptive essay detailing the topography, climate, demographics, industry and economy of London, and a diagrammatic map of the Underground network.

Sheet 2, north-east London, is a large sheet of paper, measuring about 1 metre by 1.1 metres, printed in ten colours, covering an area from Blackfriars Bridge in the south-west corner, north up the Lea Valley to Enfield and east as far as Aveley and Upminster. The other three London sheets extend as far as Watford in the north-west, Weybridge in the south-west and beyond Orpington in the south-east.

Leytonstone and Wanstead. Both tube
 stations marked M. The symbol indication
 electrified railway is seen just north
 of Leytonstone station, before the road bridge

Depicted on these maps is information not shown on British Ordnance Survey or commercial street atlases of the time, such as annotation indicating the width and surface material of highways, the European road number of major routes, the load-bearing capacity of bridges, the names and products of factories, the distinction between ‘metro’ lines and stations (ie the Underground) and national railway lines and stations, the distinction between electrified and non-electrified lines – and even in some cases showing on which side of the tracks the station building is located. 

Part of the geographic diagram of
‘metro’ lines appended to the map,
showing also major roads named
as Forest Road, Woodford Avenue
and East Ham & Barking By-Pass

The maps use colour-coding to identify ‘Important Objects’ which are numbered and listed in the accompanying index. Objects of military significance are coloured green, governmental and administrative objects in purple and industrial, utilities or transportation in black.

The information is exceedingly well researched and few errors are found. One such error, presumably ‘lost in translation’ is object 263, coded purple, which is listed as ‘the residence of the queen and prime minister’ but is in fact Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket in the West End.

Central London, showing River Thames in upper
case letters (indicating navigable river),
ticks along the embankment indicating vertical
sides suitable for mooring, arrows showing
direction of flow of river and direction of tide,
cross-hatching on railway bridge indicating
metal construction, tunnel running north from
Waterloo Bridge (the Kingsway tram subway)
and showing ‘metro’ stations. None of this
information appears on contemporary Ordnance
Survey maps. ‘Important objects’ are colour
coded and numbered, including 28 Charing
Cross station, 240 Treasury, 246 Ministry
of Defence, 263 (see story), 283 Greater
London Council, 351 HQ General Staff.

London was not the only British city mapped in this way; at least 100 other such maps are known, most of which are the larger scale of 1:10,000 (about six inches to the mile) and include such places of relative unimportance strategically as Gainsborough, Lincolnshire and Dunfermline, Fife. 

The earliest known are 1950 maps of Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock, the latest is a map of Falmouth dated 1997 (after the demise of USSR). Some of the maps overlap, particularly in the industrial areas of Lancashire and West Yorkshire. In fact, Aveley and the Dartford Tunnel appear on the overlap of the London map and the 1:10,000 Thurrock map of 1977.

Other local maps include Southend-on-Sea (1985), Colchester (1975) and Luton, which was mapped in 1973 and again in 1986.

Debden showing the M11 labelled
as M11 and E112 (a Europe-wide
numbering system for major routes which
was not adopted in UK and which did
not appear on any British maps) and
also annotated as 11x2Ц – indicating
2 carriageways 11 meters wide with
concrete surface. Note also the contour
line with spot height 46 just west of the
railway. This ‘closed’ contour has ticks
indicating which side is lower, a useful
convention which is not used on British maps.

The maps are labelled Secret and were produced by VTU (the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff of the Soviet Army - Военно-Топографическое управление Генерального Штаба Советской Армии). 

Their existence was unknown to Western military and only came to light in the shambolic circumstances after the collapse of USSR, thanks to exploits worthy of a John Le Carré spy novel; in some cases stocks of maps were sold as ‘waste paper’ to save the cost of destroying them; in other cases semi-official sources desperate for dollars clinched black market deals with eager American dealers.

This was in the early 1990s, the era before the ready availability of the kind of geo-information freely available today, such as online maps, street views and satellite images.

Commercial map makers in Britain wanting to produce and sell maps would have only three choices in deriving the necessary source information:  do their own survey (time-consuming), use out-of-copyright Ordnance Survey maps (at least fifty years out-of-date), or pay licence fees to OS (expensive).

Dartford Tunnel as depicted on 1977
Thurrock 1:10,000 map and on 1985
London 1:25,000 map (south-east
sheet). The tunnel is annotated as
having a length of 1600 metres
on the earlier map.

The sudden influx of cheap, accurate, modern mapping looked like it would change all that. At the time OS was engaged in a long-running dispute with the AA over alleged copyright infringement (which it eventually won with a £20 million out-of-court settlement in March 2001) and was determined to avoid this potential undermining of its business model.

Thus, the OS declared that the Soviet mapping ‘is almost entirely an adaptation of Ordnance Survey Crown copyright material. It was produced without the permission of Ordnance Survey and thus it infringes Ordnance Survey's Crown copyright’ and went on to demand that anyone in possession of the maps hand them in and to threaten legal action against anyone importing or offering for sale or reproducing any part of the maps.

This statement, although not quite the truth, was sufficient to suppress any interest in the Soviet maps in UK until recently. In fact, although information derived from OS maps can be seen to contribute to the Soviet maps, OS is only one of many sources that were used. Others included satellite images, trade directories, railway timetables, tourist guides, street atlases, and observations by agents on the ground.

Forest Gate - in detail

Above is the Forest Gate detail of the Soviet map surveyed in 1980 and printed in 1985.  By clicking on it, it should be possible to enlarge it for a closer view.  If so, and you live in Forest Gate, you will probably be able to see your house marked - so, Uncle Joe really could have known where you lived!

There are a few points of particular interest.  This section of the map is clearly dominated by Wansted Flats; but the area is marked Aldersbrook. This is confusing to the casual viewer, but apparently quite common for map makers to do - they often label blank spaces according to the nearest housing development. 

It is interesting, though without explanation, that the two sections of the Flats adjacent to Centre Road (see below) are predominantly shaded white, whereas the sections near Dames Road and north of Cann Hall Road are predominantly pale brown. There are no obvious explanations for this. The lakes/ponds, tree clusters and banking by Alexandra Lake are all well and accurately marked.

The two other largish areas without a light brown background are the cemeteries - Manor Park with a mixture of white and green (for grass) backgrounds, the West Ham and Jewish cemeteries with simply a white background - indicating no large grass areas.

Just south of the West Ham/Jewish cemeteries is a cluster of buildings, with a name.  The word is "hospital", from the days (accurate when the map was plotted) that what is now Gladys Dimson House, was then Newham Maternity Hospital.

The road markings are strange.  Romford Road (the A118) is quite clearly the most important, strategic and busy road covered by this section of the map, but it is given a lower status - by colour - than both Leytonstone and Aldersbrook Roads. We have no logical explanation for this.

Other roads, clearly marked, in the Cyrillic script are: Earlham Grove, Forest Lane, Odessa Road, Ramsey Road, Cann Hall Road, Dames Road, Capel Road, Cranmer Road, Sebert Road, Godwin Road, Ridley Road, Windsor Road, Katherine Road and Sherrard Road.

Centre Road is wrongly marked as Blake Hall Road, with the map maker, wrongly assuming that Centre Road was simply a continuation of Blake Hall. 

In terms of the Woodgrange estate, it is interesting that Windsor Road is shown as wider than the other lateral roads, and is the only one of the four of them to be named.  Equally strange, Richmond Road is marked, rather than Balmoral as the road at right angles to the lateral roads on the estate. Strategically, Balmoral is more important, as it offers a through road in and out of the estate, and Richmond doesn't. Quite why Richmond and not Balmoral was marked is not obvious

What, at first sight, appear to be the railway arches along the Goblin line, are not the arches, but railway embankments.

Towards the top right hand of the map is a wiggly line.  This is the 15 metre contour line. There is a 13 metre spot height indicated on Aldersbrook Road and a 14 metre mark on Capel Road.

Happy map-gazing!

Footnote: John Davies lives in Woodford Green and is co-author of Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World http://redatlasbook.com/   recently published by University of Chicago Press and available online or at The Newham Bookshop. John can be contacted at author@redatlasbook.com

Redevelopment proposals for Woodgrange Methodist Church

The congregation and pastors of Woodgrange Methodist church, together with the national hierarchy of the Methodist tradition have been working, for about 5 years,  on redevelopment plans for the site. These are at an advanced stage and subject to pre-planning consultation.

Architect view of how the new development
 would fit in to Woodgrange Road - nb, this
assumes the proposals for 39a-49a -
opposite - go ahead as approved

The existing buildings, although only about 60 years old, are looking tired and unfit for purpose, so the Methodists have appointed a series of external professionals to help them re-develop their physical position within the local community.

They held two consultation sessions - totalling eight hours - within the church premises, over a cold February weekend. We went along, and this is what we found.

The consultation event was fronted by Alaistair Watson of Broadchurch Asset Management - about whom, more much later.

The proposal is to knock down the existing church and supporting buildings and replace them by a new church and around 33 flats. The consultation leaflet said that the proposed development will provide:

• a new high quality visible church on the northern side of the site
• variety of community spaces
• around 33 new homes
• retail accommodation

and that "The site has been designated as suitable for residential-led mixed use development (enabling the Church) in the Borough's Local Plan."

Bird's eye view of how the proposed
development would appear

Mr Watson promised copies of the display boards on show at the consultation event to share with readers of this blog.  He has failed to honour this commitment, despite repeated reminders and requests. As and when he chooses to do so, we will happily update this post and add them to it.

Only about 25 people had attended the consultation event half way through its opening hours, so few members of the local community will have had much of a chance to see what is proposed for one of the focal points of the local community.

The original Methodist church, built at the
 conclusion of construction of the Woodgrange
estate - in the early 1890's. The new proposals
seek a similarly dominating tower/spire

 In summary, the church's physical position on the footprint of the existing  site will be switched from abutting Claremont Road, to being adjacent to Osborne Road. The church will have a tall spire/tower - as the original church on the site had, before it was bombed during WW2. The spire, itself, would be dominated by a huge cross.

This literally towers over other buildings in the area, and may now be deemed out of character - even with the taller residential apartment buildings planned for the opposite side of Woodgrange Road (see here).

The original church, in ruins,
following bombing during WW2

The church, itself, will occupy about 50% of the land on the site - the other 50% will be devoted to housing. Mr Watson was frank - 'it is the sale of the flats that will pay for the rebuilding of the church'. But, the proposals only anticipate that 6 of the proposed flats will be for 'social housing'. The other 27 would be for sale.

 

The consultation leaflet stated that further information about the proposed development could be found here. At the time of writing, this website offered no more information than the leaflet available at the consultation event, other than the information that "The site will be developed by Pigeon Investment Management."

Pigeon's website: www.pigeon.co.uk says:

Pigeon was established in 2008 and has assembled a management team with extensive knowledge of the regional property markets and a powerful combination of business and property skills.

Pigeon manages commercial and residential property on behalf of its investors with a projected end value of over £250m and is currently promoting land for over 15,000 dwellings for its land partners.

Herein lies a potential problem for both the developers (Pigeon and Broadchurch) and for would-be Newham Labour Mayoral hopeful Cllr Rokhsana Fiaz. Cllr Fiaz, in her manifesto for mayor plan, aims to get 50% of new-build homes in Newham under council ownership and let at fair rents.

The church, today, occupying space the
developers propose is used for 33 flats
- 80% for sale at market prices

Clearly both ambitions - the 80% flats for commercial sale proposals of the developers and 50% council-owned by the potential mayor - cannot be met, unless weasel words can be conjured up.

The rebuild proposals would see the church side of the development as a large multi-purpose space that could be used to host a number of community activities, and open up to make it an inviting facility for local community use.

The Grade 2 listed Peter Peri's sculpture, The Preacher, (see here for details), currently facing Woodgrange Road would be relocated to face the corner of Woodgrange and Osborne Roads in the new proposals.

Peter Peri's sculpture will be moved,
but remain as a significant feature of the
new church - under current proposals

There were a number of elderly members of the local congregation present at the consultation event and they are very keen on the proposals.  "We pray every day for their success" we were told. 

They were keen to point out that they do not want the new development to have walls or fences around it - both from a perspective of being welcoming to the local community, but also because they do not wish it to become a centre of anti-social behaviour (litter dumping, street drinking, needle discards etc).

Mr Watson said all concerned were working to what sounds like an incredibly ambitious time table. Planning permission within two-three months and project completion with about 18 months. The congregation would co-locate with the Manor Park Methodists for the duration.

Alaistair Watson and Broadchurch Asset Management

The consultation event was hosted by Mr Watson, in the name of Broadchurch Asset Management.

The company's name is a potentially misleading one, because in financial circles "Asset Management" companies are those who look after/invest large holdings of other people's money - like pension and sovereign wealth funds. Broadchurch is small beer - with almost no assets - either of its own, or apparently managing.

Alaistair Watson, 53, is the only current director of Broadchurch-am, which was established in 2013, and doesn't appear to have done much trading since. He has been involved with a string of other property companies (33 at the last count - though only currently active in 4) and has been involved with projects in Essex, the Isle of Wight (see ,here and here) and Suffolk, where he lives. He  appears to be a bit of a vintage car enthusiast (see here). 

Broadchurch, together with Pigeon, do, however, have plans for a significant development in Hadleigh in Suffolk - see here.

In 2005, under the name of Thamesgate Regeneration, Mr Watson managed a big and controversial development  in East Tilbury. It attracted a fair bit of press coverage, not least from The Guardian, due to its plans to build a 14,000-home new town on greenbelt land.

Colonnade Holdings, another company managed Mr Watson, has run a few successful projects in the Isle of Wight over the last decade or so. But he and this company didn’t have a good time of it when developing a shopping centre in Basildon in 2009, according to three separate reports in the local paper (see here, here and here).

Some of the filth currently outside the
church.  The congregation, and local
people want to see an end to this.
Mr Watson - please note

The congregation at Woodgrange Methodist church, and Forest Gate residents more generally, will be disappointed to hear that there were complaints were about filth, rubbish, graffiti and broken pavements in the area under development, causing accidents and discomfort, for which Mr Watson had to publicly apologise.

October 2018 update

A formal planning application for the redevelopment of the Woodgrange Methodist church was lodged at the end of September 2018. Full details can be found on the council's planning website, see here.

Below are some of the drawing submitted as part of the application. 

Comments about the application are sought by the council, via the site, above, with a closing date of 31 October 2018.

Some observations:

1. Five weeks does not seem long for the consultation process - particularly considering how minimal the first stage of consultation was - see above.

2. The diagrams below disguise the fact that if accepted, a key part of Forest Gate's main thoroughfare (the flats in this proposal and those in the boarded up shops opposite - whenever the developers get round to building) will switch from being effectively three floors high, to six floors high. This is a significant change to the nature of the area, which the council has failed to consult on, adequately.

3. As mentioned, above, weasel words have been conjured up to disguise the fact that the proposal falls considerably short of Newham's mayor's stated aim of ensuring all new housing developments in Newham are split 50:50 between commercially let and sold properties and those that are "affordable". The proposal, like the original consulted-on scheme, still envisages only 6 of the 33 homes being for "social housing", and 27 not (i.e about 18% social/affordable). 

4. All the evidence suggests that 3-bedroom accommodation presents the largest demand for housing in Newham. Only six of the proposed flats are 3-bed, nine are 2-bed and 18 are 1-bed.

5. The planning proposals envisages that the building costs of the development will be £10.5m, bringing the equivalent of 97 labour-years of work.

Ground floor plan

Church development plan's height in
comparison to agreed development
for 39a - 49a Woodgrange Road

Current building footprint (solid colour),
within site plans for new development (purple line)

Top view of proposed development

View from Claremont Road

View from Osborne Road

Woodgrange Road, looking east