Peabody rumoured to be in Crown Estate talks

Published: 7 October, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

RUMOURS have emerged that social housing group Peabody are locked in talks with the Crown Estate over the purchase of more than 500 homes on Cumberland Market, Regent’s Park.

While a spokesman for Peabody would neither confirm nor deny they were the buyers, a source at the group told the New Journal they had been looking to acquire the Crown properties. The Crown Estate have so far kept the buyer’s identity confidential. 

The Crown, Britain’s biggest landowner, has been touting round affordable homes they own in Camden and elsewhere in London for two years. When asked about the rumours, a Crown spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation,” adding they would reveal the buyers next week.

Meanwhile, one of the main architects of a plan to sell off the homes of pensioners, key workers and the low paid has agreed to meet with Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson today (Thursday) to lay out for the first time how they will protect the rights of tenants.

Mr Dobson is meeting chief executive Roger Bright to ask him what guarantees the Crown can legally offer to their tenants that rents will not be increased.

Mr Dobson said: “We need to ask what is in it for any potential purchasers? How will the Crown stop the new owners selling off flats that become empty to make money, or, when leases run out, raising rents to reflect market values?

“The Crown say they have to maximise income for the Treasury so they are selling off homes they have managed well for nearly 100 years. 

“The question that needs to be answered is if they do not think it is making enough profit for them, why would any one, be it a private landlord, a property developer or a registered social landlord, spend millions of pounds on the homes when the income is going to be exactly the same?”

A Crown spokesman said: “Our discussions with the prospective purchaser are progressing well and next week we will be in a position to share their name and will also be able to begin the second round of consultation.

“We understand the ongoing uncertainty for residents can be unsettling and I would like to assure you that we are working as quickly as possible to get to a position with the prospective purchaser which enables us to release their name and start the consultation.”

Cumberland Market Residents Association chairman Steve Smith said: “They have broken a string of promises, and we just can’t understand why they are being so secretive about their plans. 

“It’s our homes they are playing with and we do not understand why they have treated us so badly.”