Investigations have been launched after rooms in former London police stations sold off by the Met appeared to be listed for rent without planning permission.
The Isle of Dogs police station building, near Canary Wharf, reportedly has over a dozen people paying to live in it after being advertised on online sites, such as Spareroom.com.
Pictures of one “flat share” listing show a double mattress in a small room with a mini fridge and a wardrobe for £800 a month. Another shows a mattress in the same room as a shower cubicle and a sink, both by the front door, for £900 a month.
One perspective tenant who viewed the accommodation said 40 rooms were available to rent in the building and some listed as “studios”, despite not having a kitchen, were £1,100 to £1,300 a month.
A Tower Hamlets council spokesman said: “We’re aware that the former police station building is currently being used as residential or guest accommodation without the necessary planning permission.
“We have launched an investigation and undertaken site visits to assess the situation and initial warning letters have been issued, requesting that the unauthorised use of the building cease.
“If they do not cease the unauthorised use of the building as short term let/guest house, the council has a range of enforcement powers which can be used for remedying unauthorised uses.”
The east London station was sold by the Met to DN Private Equity Canary Wharf Limited for £2.8million in early 2022. Later that year a large cannabis factory was discovered in the former precinct.
Requests by Milegate Limited - a frozen food company owned by the same businessman as DN Private Equity - to convert the building into housing were rejected by Tower Hamlets Council and the Planning Inspectorate in 2024.
Town hall officers visited the building in late July and discovered it was being used for “residential purposes” and launched an investigation.
The current owners were contacted for comment.
It comes after Enfield Council earlier this year served a formal notice to a “rogue landlord” who was unlawfully operating the former Southgate police station on Chase Side as a hostel.
The front counter closed in 2013, and the building was later sold by the Met for £4.1million.
Plans to turn it into a 65-bed hostel were rejected last year after complaints from residents, councillors and the Metropolitan Police, with officers raising fears about “crime prevention, safety, security” as well as “the safety of lone women and young girls”. An appeal is ongoing.
The building was found to be being used as accommodation unlawfully in January. A town hall investigation revealed that rooms in the building were not only illegally advertised for rent, but homeless people were also being placed there by other London boroughs.
Councillor Susan Erbil, Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services, said at the time: “The council is committed to taking all necessary steps to tackle rogue landlords who flout regulations and provide substandard accommodation.
“Such practices are unacceptable, and we will always take justified and defensible enforcement action.”
A House of House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence application was submitted to the council for the building in June after the permitted number of occupants was reduced to 40, down from 99, and the kitchens and bathrooms were reconfigured.
In 2008, London had 160 open police station counters. It now has around 36, meaning more than 75% have closed.
This week the Metropolitan Police revealed plans to close half its remaining front desks to save money. Scotland Yard confirmed it will break its pledge to have one accessible 24 hours a day in each of the capital’s 32 boroughs.
A Met spokesman said: “The decision to reduce and close some front counters will save £7million and 3,752 hours of police officer time per month allowing us to focus resources relentlessly on tackling crime and putting more officers into neighbourhoods across London.”
