Court to resolve status of Crown tenants

The status of 400 regulated tenancies that the Crown Estate is to transfer to housing association Peabody is to be resolved at a speedy trial after Peabody agreed to fund a representative tenant’s legal costs. In October 2010, the Crown signed a deal to transfer to Peabody the ownership of 1,230 affordable homes on five estates in central London for £150m. However, under the Housing Act 1988, the status of regulated tenancies automatically changes after a sale. The parties seek clarification from the court as to whether the leases of the properties in Cumberland Market, Millbank, Victoria Park and Lee Green estates will become secure tenancies or assured tenancies. However, in February, Mann J urged the parties to fund a representative tenant in order for the case to proceed. On Friday, lawyers for the Crown Estate Commissioners and Peabody confirmed to Peter Smith J that tenant Margaret Poplak would represent the 400 regulated tenants, with Peabody paying her barrister’s fees.  Secure tenancies, the most common form of tenancies provided by local authorities, offer greater protections to tenants, allowing them to remain in their homes for provided that abide by the rules.  Assured tenants, on the other hand, can remain in their homes only for a fixed period.  At the previous hearing, the court heard that Peabody will treat the 400 affected tenants, so far as possible, as regulated tenants, but that the parties would prefer to know the tenants’  legal status in advance of any future possession or rent review proceedings. A Crown Estate spokesman said at the time: “The Crown Estate has taken steps to ensure that regulated tenants’ specified rights will be protected after a sale regardless of whether they become assured or secure tenants. To do this, it will provide an addendum to each resident’s individual regulated tenancy agreement so that even if regulated tenants do become assured tenants it will have little or no practical effect on their rights in respect of rents, security of tenure, succession, consultation by their landlord or taking in lodgers.”