Fury at Crown Estate homes sell-off

Published: 27 May 2010
by DAN CARRIER

AN estate which for more than 80 years has provided homes for key workers and low-income households in the heart of Camden is set to be sold off.

The Crown Estate, who are one of the UK’s biggest landowners with swathes of the most expensive real estate in London, have decided managing homes in the capital is “not part of their core business” after being landlords for nearly a century and will now go ahead with plans to sell the properties.

The Crown have been locked in secret talks with potential owners for the past 12 months – refusing to tell tenants who their new landlords could be. And although the decision to sell the homes will affect more than 500 families in Camden, no one from the Crown responsible for the decision is willing to be interviewed. Repeated requests made by the New Journal to speak directly with the Crown’s director of investment and asset manager, Paul Clarke, or Crown estate chairman, Sir Stuart Hampson, have been batted away by press officers. 

Cumberland Market tenants association chairman Steve Smith revealed there is seething anger at the sale.

He said that only two people out of 1,536 who were consulted backed the plans for the sale – a near unanimous rejection that has been ignored by the Crown.

Mr Smith said: “The crystal clear message that the sale should not proceed has been ignored.

“The Crown Estate’s decision to press ahead despite almost unanimous opposition is deeply disappointing. Many residents feel let down by the Crown’s decision to abandon them after nearly a century of good housing management. Once we are informed about the proposed purchaser and what assurances are being offered, we will look carefully at the detail before deciding what to do next.”

Mr Smith added that across the board political support for the tenants had also been ignored, as had letters written by the chairmen and chief executives of some of London’s biggest hospitals, whose staff often find affordable accommodation on the estates. 

Mr Smith said that now the sale had been confirmed, they would be studying any conditions the Crown is looking to impose on a new buyer, consider their track record and try to make sure the estate’s future is legally safeguarded as a place for key workers and social housing.

A spokesman for the Crown Estate said they would guarantee that the new landlord would ensure that “if the sale goes ahead, it will do so only with a continuation of the current level of 90 per cent of new lettings to key workers”.

In a prepared statement, chairman Sir Stuart Hampson said: “The Board is conscious that this is an issue which has great sensitivity for its residents and the stakeholders with whom we deal.  

“The Crown Estate’s approach to business is guided by our commitment to integrity and stewardship alongside a commercial approach to managing our property portfolio. The Crown Estate Act places a clear requirement on us to enhance the value of the Estate and the income it generates for the Treasury.  

“The Board agreed with stakeholders and residents that these estates provide valuable key worker rented accommodation. 

“However, it also noted that these estates remain only a small part of the Crown Estate’s portfolio, that there are no plans to increase this provision, and that the Crown Estate is under no statutory duty to provide housing of this type.”

The chairman added that he believed the estates could be better managed by another social housing provider.