One mum in Earl’s Court said she had spent £30,000 improving the property and now faces the uncertainty of the housing bidding system
A council tenant who says she has spent £30,000 refurbishing her home has been told she and her son will soon have to leave the property because renewing the lease is too expensive.
The household is one of 27 that Kensington and Chelsea Council could now have to rehouse because officers have deemed it “extremely expensive” to renew the leases.
Gulala Abdullah, 48, says she has spent tens of thousands of pounds doing up the flat where she lives with her 18-year-old son Marcus. The teenager said that leaving the property would be “annoying” as he attends college and has lots of friends in the local area.
At a Leadership Meeting last Tuesday (June 9), the West London council decided not to extend the leases from their freeholder at three blocks of flats across Earl’s Court and Chelsea. Council tenants live in two of the blocks while the third is entirely occupied by leaseholders.
“We feel so bad about it because we spent so much refurbishing this place – we spent £9,000 doing the kitchen,” said Ms Abdullah, who rents her Earl’s Court home in Nevern Square from Kensington and Chelsea Council.
“It’s such a shame – for me to move would be devastating,” she added.
Yasmin Carrillo, 51, lives in the same block of flats with her husband and three sons. She said the block of apartments is a “good community” where they “all help each other out”.
“I don’t think it’s fair because of the fact that we don’t know what will happen with our family. I’m afraid that we will be pushed to accept something that isn’t right for us,” she said.
Ms Carrillo has one son who attends school in the community and another who attends university in Central London. She is scared that the council will try to separate the family from her eldest son because finding another three-bedroom flat is so difficult.
“They already told us because it’s a three-bedroom flat it could take up to 16 years to get another one,” she said, adding: “My boys aren’t ready to move to another area.”
There is just six years left to run on the ‘headlease’ at the Nevern Square block. The council intends not to renew this because, having let the lease run down to such a short time, it will cost a lot to renew.
Patricia Shepherd, who lives in a different block of flats in Chelsea which will also be affected, said she feels okay about the move as long as she is kept in the local area. The 79-year-old says that she won’t have to move for at least five years but if she was younger she would be “very worried”.
Again this block, in Mulberry Close, has just six years left on the headlease. Mr Shepherd has no family in England but she has a very close relationship with one of the families in the building. For this reason, she said that she would be upset if she had to move to another part of the city.
“I’m one of those people who thinks things will always get sorted out,” she said, adding: “I wouldn’t want to leave the area – I would create merry hell. I believe in fairness for everybody.”
Kensington and Chelsea Council said it won’t be able to guarantee a local home for every resident who wants to remain in the area. Homes are added to a choice based lettings system as they become available.
It will also make offers of properties as these become available. Eligible residents affected will also be made a Home Loss payment of £8,100.
There are five flats at the Earl’s Court property – four tenanted and one leasehold. At Mulberry Close there are 23 tenanted flats and 17 leasehold. All of these leaseholders lease from the council while the council owns the headlease – effectively acting as a middle man between the freeholder and individual leaseholders.
The final block, Beaufort House, also located in Chelsea, has 12 leaseholders but there are no council tenants in the property. The council report states that 10 of these leaseholders have chosen to extend their leases directly with the freeholder but two have not.
There are 20 years left on the headlease for this block and the council wants to duck out before it has to spend money on major works to the building.
‘Decisions like this are never easy’
A spokesperson for Kensington and Chelsea Council said: “Decisions like this are never easy and we don’t take them lightly. We know this will be an unsettling time for the residents who are affected, we have a dedicated team ready to offer advice and support through the next steps.
“We will be making a direct offer to tenants to relocate them to a property which has the same number of bedrooms as their current home, and where possible in the same neighbourhood or surrounding areas when properties become available. We will work with the families to ensure any offer is suitable and meets their requirement as their priority.
“Households will also be able to bid for homes they are interested in through the council’s lettings system. There are funds available to cover moving house and the associated costs, as well as a payment to compensate for any disruption.”
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