Protest at Peabody HQ over housing association’s 9 per cent rent rise

Protesters call for a freeze this week

PUBLIC sector workers took to the streets this week to protest against a housing association’s “unsustainable” 9 per cent rent rise that could force residents to move out of London.

Tenants of the Cumberland Market estate, which is mostly made up of key workers, were hit with the news in January that their rents will be rising by an above-inflation jump this April.

On Tuesday residents handed a petition, with 545 handwritten signatures, into Peabody’s HQ in Waterloo.

“Barely a month goes by when we don’t hear of another key worker tenant moving off the estate and transferring outside of London,” resident Paul Waterhouse said.

“Teachers, health workers, fire service people. London wouldn’t work if we didn’t have these people.”

Now retired, Mr Waterhouse has lived on the estate since 1981 when he was working for the Department for Trade and Industry. Peabody Housing Association bought Cumberland Market, and other properties across London, from the Crown Estate in 2011 to fund the redevelopment of Regent Street.

As part of the sale agreement with the Crown, Peabody would let 90 per cent of the flats to key workers. While rents are creeping up, maintenance of the flats has been deteriorating, residents said.

Mr Waterhouse said: “Before the pandemic we had an estate manager, an assistant and a janitor to look after our estate. Now our estate manager looks after six central London estates. So we very rarely see him. He doesn’t really reply if you have any issues.”

The estate’s famous clock in its tower has been broken since 2017, despite resident complaints. A McDonald’s ad placed in the estate in 2022 used special effects to make the clock look like it was working.

Emergency services worker Clare Apps, 37, said: “We’re in a one-bed. Since having a baby we’ve been on a waiting list for a two-bedroom flat, but we’re really concerned now with the year-on-year rent increases that if one did become available, that we wouldn’t be able to afford to move into one anyway.

“At the moment the baby is sleeping in the hallway, which isn’t really safe. So we’d love to have a bit more space, but that might not be possible with the rent increase.”

She added she feels “trapped” whatever they do because if they did move to a different one-bed flat, they would move off their original protected tenancy agreement and would automatically pay £200 extra a month.

Karen Colborn, 62, has lived in Cumberland Market for 23 years. She used to work with older people in the community teaching filming.

She said of the rent increase: “It’s just mad, it’s absolutely mad. Especially if you’re a single person. “You work all your life and because the rents are rising so much, when you look at your pension, even if you have a work pension as well, you just can’t afford to survive. We’re all thinking about going and living in tree houses. “

Peabody is acquiring lots of land and they’re not maintaining their original stock.”

In 2023, Peabody reported a turnover of £1.1 billion. A spokesperson from the housing association said: “For more than half of residents living on the former Crown Estates, rents will stay the same or increase by an average of 5.4 per cent (due to London Living Rent cap).

“Like all housing associations, we’re having to balance rising costs with a need to continue maintaining existing homes, build more desperately needed homes where we can, and provide essential services.

“Although these homes aren’t for social rent, they are decent value for money in these central London locations, at an average of £1,233 per month for a three-bed home.”