LETTER: Transparency needed on Peppercorn Rents vs Market Rents for Brent Council properties

 Dear Editor,

Following widespread public interest and concern, including on Wembley Matters, regarding the impact of Brent Council's Strategy Review on the voluntary and community sector, I have written (below) to the  appropriate council officer:

I am writing in my capacity as a Councillor concerned about the potentially damaging impact of the new Property Strategy and it’s implementation on the Brent voluntary sector.

The Property Strategy agreed by Cabinet last week indicates that expired rents will be charged based on market values and that Section 25 Notices will be issued as part of the process to achieve this.

As you know your officers started issuing Section 25 Notices to a number of community organisations in Brent and you officers suggested a completely off the wall (some people may say off their heads) figures.

In the case of the East Lane Theatre Club in my Sudbury Ward a new rent of £75,000 Per year has been suggested.

I know of other organisations in Sudbury subject to the same Property Unit approach.

What assurance can you give that this approach will be applied consistently and that community organisations will be treated fairly and equally.

The Leader of the Council has suggested that “ELTC has been in the fortunate position of being able to have space since 1992 for the sun of £1,500 ….and I can assure you that there are many organisations past and present that would love to have been in that position of having had that space”.

He than also claims that “we must start at open market rents”.

He is clearly ignorant of the facts or has not bothered to find out or has not been briefed properly. As you know there a number of organisations in Brent - many occupying larger premises and since before 1992 - that do not pay any rent for properties which belong to Brent Council and for which the Council is the landlord.

As you know one of these properties is The Kiln Theatre (formerly Tricycle Theatre) with a much larger Theatre building of which Brent Council is the freeholder the rent for which is £1 peppercorn.

You have and should be able to publish the full list of all the Brent Council owned buildings where £1 or nominal rent is paid.

Is it the intention of the Corporate Property Policy to review all these subsidised rents too so as to put all  community organisations on the same basis or is it the intention to penalise some with a Market Rent while favouring others with no rent at all?

You will appreciate that will all look very odd to any independent observer who may question the fairness of an approach the aim of which seems to be to deprive long standing organisations of their premises while others continue to receive favoured treatment. 

Perhaps if the Cabinet were informed of this strange situation they may have asked some questions and perhaps even made a different decision.

Because of the public interest in this matter I am publishing this email and will also publish your response.

 

Cllr Paul Lorber

Muhammed Butt: We must start at open market rates for Brent property leases in order to provide services residents need. Policy hits East Lane Theatre Club

 

In an article on the new Brent Property Strategy on September 2nd LINK I predicted that some community and voluntary groups would not be able to afford the new rent and leases that Brent Council were going to charge as these will be based on open market rates.

Now the East Lane Theatre Club in North Wembley has felt the icy blast of thet policy. The increase demanded by Brent Council is such that the theatre may have to close. The lease would be £75,000 per annum rather tthan the £1,500 currenly paid.

Previous property strategy has taken into account the social value of community and volunary groups but that seems to have gone out the window. A precursor of the current market led policy was seen at Stonebridge Adventure playground and Bridge Park, and more recently in plans for the commercialisation of Barham Park buildings.

Respected local resident Zerine Tata wrote to Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt about the threat to East Lane Theatre Club.

This is the correspondence:

Dear Muhammed,

 

Re: East Lane Theatre

 

I was not aware that the Council was the landlord and you are increasing their rent to a ridiculous level.

 

This little theatre has been there for decades and one of the few icons  left in Wembley.

 

The Council should be subsidising this theatre, not charging them rent!

 

This theatre gives so much pleasure to local residents, it's like bringing the West End to us.

 

Many residents cannot afford West End prices and have been going to this theatre for many years.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Zerine

 Muhammed Butt's response:

 

Dear Zerine

 

Thank you for your email. I have attached the email I sent to you earlier as reference.

 

As you will see that the council has been subsidising the theatre for 32 years now, and your assumption below that we have not is incorrect.

 

We charge rent to residents who have council properties, the council officers have been tasked to look at every property we have to see what we can realise and from that work we think that we can obtain a much better rent for the property if it was let out, the officers have been in touch with the theatre about the way forward,

 

The council get many requests from many organisations that they require a space, we are not able to work with them to provide a space for them. There are organisations past and present that would love to have a building for £1500 pa for the past 32 years, sadly we cannot continue to rent out that level in todays financial and economic climate.

 

The theatre has been in the fortunate position to have been able to benefit from being able to have use for the last 32 years at the subsidised rate of £1500 pa.

 

We cannot say its ok for one organisation to continue to have sole use for perpetuity, the council does not have unlimited spaces that we can provide to every organisation in Brent, we would also look to see who else can utilise that space and what value they bring and add to the priorities set out in the councils borough plan.

 

Any decision we make, we will always get some people who will be happy and some who will be upset with us.

 

We have just launched the council's new property strategy which I have attached for yourself, which details the way forward as to how we will be managing the councils assets , namely the properties we have and those that are leased to organisations or individuals.

 

I wish I had properties to give to everyone who comes to myself, sadly that is not the case.

 

I know from officers that there was a meeting arranged with the theatre. I have been saying that the dialogue needs to continue with the officers, I have been open wth everyone that we are reviewing every lease we have in place and that process will continue with everyone.

 

As I said in my email to you earlier, the theatre needs to work with the officer, sometimes we cannot agree, that is life, and we will sadly then have to agree to disagree, and we will then need to go our separate ways.

 

 

Regards

Muhammed

Cllr Muhammed Butt
Leader of Brent Council. 

 

Earlier email

 

Dear Zerine

 

Thank you for the email and for raising the concerns about ELTC, 

 

I would love to be able to provide spaces to every organisation in Brent with a space they can call their own, but sadly that is not the case as the demand for spaces and for people asking us to provide those spaces at reduced prices or peppercorn rent, it’s just not feasible for us to accommodate all these types of requests and it's not financially sustainable for the council to continue in this manner.

 

The council officers are reviewing all properties that the council has and are looking at the terms of all those leases and what value and returns there are not just for Brent but for the wider community in Brent.  

 

The last 14 years have been the most challenging for local government with councils like Brent being stripped bare of the finances that we need to be able to provide even the most basic of services to our residents. 

 

We have lost over £200m in funding that has impacted severely on how and what services we can provide.  

 

ELTC has been in the fortunate position of being able to have had a space since 1992 for the sum of £1500 pa and Brent is proud to have supported the club in that time and I can assure you that there many organisations past and present that would love to have been in that position of having had that space. 

 

As you may know the lease was for 30 years, and this makes it 32 years to date. The council has been quite accommodating for that period, but today the council is in a very different situation to when the lease started, and we are reviewing all policies across the council.

 

The ending of a lease is no different to any other lease and as a responsible landlord we would need to look at what other options may be open to us, I appreciate that you may say that we need to look at helping community organisations, but this lease has been there now for over 30 years, I think we have demonstrated that we have helped this organisation over the 30 plus years they have had use of the space.

 

We have to be honest with ourselves and with organisations that want to utilise the assets that we have, we must make sure that we are trying to achieve the best that we can from everything that we have, the officers have been tasked with looking at all the councils assets and to look at how we can maximise the opportunities and that means that we must look at rental income from all the spaces that we have, this is a duty that is on local government.

 

I am being honest with yourself, we must start at open market rents, so that the rents contribute to the council's borough priorities so that we can provide the services that so many residents need and depend upon.

 

We are being forced to look at redundancies, closing and reducing services, increasing fees and charges, if we are doing this to residents , then I have to be honest with you, the club, and others, we must look at the assets and whether we are attaining the best value and outcomes for the council and the residents that we serve and also look at whether the charges / rents are realistic or attain the outcomes in relation to finance and measurable outcomes that deliver for Brent.  

 

We have just launched a new housing campaign as we have a projected £16m overspend and we are now saying openly to residents that we must move them to Slough, High Wycombe, Birmingham and even further as we cannot find a place in Brent and we now know that many people will not be able to afford a property in Brent or even London. 

 

 https://www.brent.gov.uk/news-in-brent/2024/august/find-a-place-you-can-afford, 

 

I cannot with my hand on my heart say to residents to move out of London unless I can say to myself that I have done everything possible before asking them to move out of Brent. 

 

The rental income could help us to continue to provide the services people need, keep people employed or help towards us being able to secure homes that our residents need. 

 

Virtually every day and even today , I have had residents begging me to help them to find a safe, secure, space for them and their families as they have been made homeless and have been evicted by their landlords. 

 

I have to make some really difficult choices and decisions and whatever decisions I make there will be someone who will disagree with myself.

 

The rent that was being paid of £1500 pa for the last 32 years would have come to about £48000 over that 32-year period , the officers have looked to see what rent can be realised if we went to the open market, and that is the reason for the new rent levels of £75000 pa. 

 

Accepting the rent of £1500 pa is something that we just cannot continue with that low level of rent, the financial loss to the council is too great, and it would be remiss of ourselves if we did not review the situation.

 

I appreciate that this new proposed rent level may seem high, but we also have a duty to make sure that we are realising the best value for the council as well. 

 

I know that people would want me to look at what they are delivering how it has helped them, but that would need to be measured against the council's borough plan priorities and how we can safeguard and support the most vulnerable and needy in our society and community.

 

I have copied in the two senior officers Tanveer and Denish who manage the councils' assets, they have been tasked to review the assets we have and to look at every lease with every organisation that has a lease with us, they are all going through the same process of rent revaluation.

 

I urge ELTC to keep on working with the officers and we can look to see what we can do to help assist. 

 

Thank you for your email and for making the case to support ELTC. 

 

 

Regards

Muhammed

Cllr Muhammed Butt
Leader of Brent Council.