Three Evicted Property Guardians Contact The Housing Coalition
Two major property guardianships in Brighton & Hove have served eviction notice on dozens of Civil Servants creating stress and chaos for those affected. This week as we are about to begin the second week of the new year, 2024 looks set to be one of the worst years for tenants & homelessness in Brighton & Hove & Nationally for generations…
For those who don’t know we have an awful lot of empty homes in the city, and what some land owners do is whilst waiting for things like planning permissions or land prices to rise, owners sometimes offer their assets to a property guardianship management company who rent the property out to people with little to no tenants rights, sometimes this can be short or long term.
In the case of the two properties which have had notice for possession served, Enterprise Point on Melbourne Street, Brighton & Pilgrims House 35-36 Egremont Place both of which are large property guardianships with lots of people now finding themselves homeless and at the mercy of the local rental market in Brighton & Hove.
Homeless Property Guardian Speaks Out
One person who has just been made homeless from one property guardianship home in the city contacted the Housing Coaliton to say “I currently live in a guardianship in Brighton we have now been given our notice to evict but the planning application still doesn’t have permission. I would imagine as we are currently in a housing crisis. I live in enterprise point, Melbourne street in Brighton.
I have just found out that another guardianship I was intending to move into have been given notice, only days away from obtaining my keys.”
Distressed at the last minute changes and the property market locally, she went on to say “Can they make us leave without permission for a build to be demolished?
Being located next to a school I heard this will be a issue when wanting to attend to extreme works. It of course is a stressful time because the high rental fees around the city is in excess.”
Another person who contacted and lives at Pilgrims House in Queens Park, told us “There are 35 or so people at Pilgrims all looking for new accommodation, we have to be out by February 5.”
Enterprise Point and 16-18 in Melbourne Street, Site Brighton which is currently an old dilapidated office building looks set to be demolished and transformed with the building of 269 co-living studio flats include 941 square metres of co-working business space on the new development site.
A Tough & Competitive Rental Market In Brighton & Hove
The sad part is you could look at it a few ways, they knew it could be months or years, so knew it was coming, or they were exploited, but essentially 60+ people will be made homeless in the next 30 days. So many landlords have left the game, almost 1/4 in the last few years nationally, Brighton & Hove’s Landlords have turned to AirBNB short term lets, hoping to take advantage of Brighton & Hove’s Popularity as a main tourist destination in England. This and Buy-to-leave, which is essentially land banking, has left the city with huge demand and a lack of supply, especially with so many empty homes.
Brighton and Hove City Council say new people presenting as homeless / at risk of homelessness have doubled. Evictions are up, more and more competition will surely mean some of those evicted will have to present to Brighton and Hove City Council as homeless, many of these people are Civil Servants.
If you remember it was just last year that loads of civil servants were evicted on just a few hours notice from the council owned asset Knoll House.
Can You Help Those Affected?
If you have a large property or can help those affected with accommodation please contact the coalition and we will pass your details on.