A tradesman in Hanover says his landlord’s rent hikes are forcing creatives like him to abandon their storage spaces.
Artisan tradesman Graeme Hope, who uses his storage unit in Lincoln Cottages to house plumbing tools and store renovated furniture, said the developers are trying to clear the site of its tenants by making rents unaffordable and carrying out evictions.
The landlords, Burlington Property Group, have submitted two applications for planning permission to demolish the site and build nine new homes.
Mr Hope, who has run his business using the storage unit for 14 years, says he was dismissed from his role as site manager when the new owners acquired the site in March 2022.
Burlington is currently requesting a rent from Mr Hope of £950 a month, up from the £200 a month he currently pays.
Mr Hope said: “If my workshop goes, my livelihood is gone. I can’t do what I do currently without the space that I have.
“Before Burlington took it over, there were motorcycle enthusiasts doing up their motorbikes, there were musicians, there were artists, there were carpenters, there were people storing their stuff as a community – it was a valid heartbeat of the community.
“Nobody ever said that there wasn’t a need for more housing. Of course, there is but it has to be the right kind of housing. You can’t just cram them in.
“People are rallying around, ultimately trying to support me because it’s my head above the parapet.”
After Brighton and Hove News got in touch with the Burlington Property Group, Mr Hope received communication from Burlington which threatened to serve him with an eviction notice if he refuses to pay the higher rents.
Mr Hope’s unit has damage from damp and cracking external walls. Some of the evicted tenants have left their art sculptures in the empty storage spaces, abandoned.
Burlington this month submitted a second planning application to Brighton and Hove City Council, and have appealed against the council’s “non-determination” of its first one for the 1200 square metre site.
The previous application (BH2022/03810) has received 109 objections to date, including one from Brighton Pavilion MP, Caroline Lucas.
The new planning application has made changes to the scheme layout in response to comments from the council’s urban design team.
As before, a one-bedroom bungalow, three two-bedroom houses and five three-bedroom houses are planned for the site, with sloped roofs to match the architecture in Hanover.
The revised application reduces the height of three of the houses to two-storeys and includes a small ‘pocket park’ at the end of the access path.
But neighbours are still unhappy. One public comment says: “Despite assurances from the developer that we will not be overlooked, it is impossible for a three story development to not overlook our houses and gardens.”
The planning application says that of the 22 lockups on site, 14 are currently vacant, and three of the five storage units are also empty.
Burlington Property Group said the scheme, on land designated by the council for housing, will create new jobs and improve the site’s biodiversity.
A spokesman said: “We are proud to help make homeownership a reality by bringing forward this decaying brownfield site coming to the end of its natural usable life.
“Mr. Hope has not had a rent review since 2016, seven years ago.
“By way of comparison, at Lincoln Cottages, existing tenants are currently renting 133 sq ft garages for £250/month. Mr. Hope is currently renting a 710 sq ft unit for £200/month.
“Burlington Group are seeking a fair market rent for the unit. We have the contractual ability to carry out a rent review every January.
“We have been very flexible with Mr. Hope, and we have been trying to engage with him on this issue for many months.
“He has enjoyed very low rent for many years, but we now need to bring it in line with the current market rate.”
You can find the full planning application by searching for BH2023/01058 on the council’s planning portal.
£200 per month straight up to £900 a month is price gorging, pure and simple. If they really wanted to bring it in line, they would offering that over a longer period of time, so it’s not such an acute expense.
With 14 properties vacant, averages mean nothing towards this argument. Not to forget, the council won’t forget how they treat it’s citizens.
Even if they win this, it is a death sentence to anything else they try in this city. Good reporting to spotlight this issue.
I am fully aware of all the facts of this and the statement from London Property Group Burlington Property Group is simply factually incorrect. As a resident of Lincoln Street I am a fully involved and informed member of the wider community of folk who are not only opposing this development but also the bullying and disingenuous behaviour of these developers.I know for a fact, as a direct witness ,that Mr Hope has been trying for months to get a fair rent agreed and has even paid for his own local professional surveyor to get expert advice. The report from the surveyor has been ignored by Burlington as he valued the rent for Mr.Hope’s premises at about half what Burlington have asked for. Burlington claim the rents they are asking for are fair but one has to wonder why they have not re-advertised any of the empty spaces even though there is a big waiting list for space to rent in this area.In view of this inflated assessment of rental value why do we have emails from them saying they do not intend to undertake any maintenance at this time and have left residents surrounding the site with an increasing amount of flytipped and smelly rubbish? One must assume that their agenda is not income from studios and lock up spaces at all but rather a transparent attempt to clear the site, render it derelict and so to ease the way for their development. Yes, OF COURSE we need housing but according to our local estate agent these 9 are set to become the most expensive in Hanover,making no dent on our local housing situation and will in fact only be for some pretty wealthy people to buy. Additionally is no covenant they will be sold to Brighton residents and as a London Property Developer one can imagine they may well get sold to London clients . The 9 new homes are being crammed into a cramped space in an already densely populated area with no buffer between existing houses. The aim is sadly and disappointingly predictably clearly to maximum developer’s profits with no thought for local community. Burlington misled the council on their application and asserted as a statement of truth that there would be no loss of employment floor space . Since that time they have illegally evicted one long standing business who sold antique books from the site for 20 years and forced out many more local people from their spaces. A crowd funded barrister saw the book selling business awarded payment from Burlington for their illegal eviction as they had a secure business tenancy .The community has tried hard to engage with Burlington to affect compromise that would work for all but they are simply not interested in wider community benefit or the harmful effects to the entire area in terms of increased traffic and overdevelopment : we held our community engagement exercise to come up with some positive alternatives : possibly a smaller number of houses with some mixed use, community space/workshop/studios and significant green landscaping to buffer the new development. We asked for a meaningful community engagement event with Burlington ( as opposed to what was actually a mere presentation from them on what they intended to build last year) But the community has yet to be approached by Burlington for further conversation on this but remain open to discussions while not holding our breath. Repeating the same misinformation over and over again does not make it true : even if you are big London Property Developer. The now overused term “gaslighting” is appropriate here as is the term “bullying”. Our little corner of Brighton remains committed to supporting the last remaining business on this site and to call into question the behaviour and conduct of unscrupulous developers.
Burlington have not been flexible. They haven’t even been honest. They have lied through every stage of this, and threatened people. The council also think that the loss of employment space is acceptable and designated this space as brownfield. This goes against the council’s own rules about not removing work space.
Housing is in a different use class to garages, surely! These are commercial/community use structures that are needed to sustain community and the developers should be refused but is that possible without City Plan backup?
How can change of use be blocked?
They clearly hope to show unmarketable status to justify change of use. Sleazy.
Hi Valerie, I totally agree with your points.This area was designated for housing subject to planning criteria…. We can only make our comments to object on those criteria via the council planning portal or by emailing planning . You can find the full planning application by searching for BH2023/01058 on the council’s planning portal.