In Coulsdon, 157 flats have been standing empty for almost two years, in the middle of a housing crisis. But now, with the council silent on the multi-million sale of the properties, some are being made available for eye-watering rents. BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, reports
Prime property: a small two-bed flat in Coulsdon could cost the tenant £27,600 a year in rent
If this is what Jo Negrini, Tony Newman, Paul Scott, Alison Butler and Colm Lacey meant about providing “affordable housing” when they set up council-owned Brick by Brick in 2015, then if they are prosecuted for nothing else, they deserve some severe penalty for crimes against the English language.
Almost two years since Brick by Brick’s development of 157 “architect-designed” homes on what used to be a council-owned car park was completed, and eagle-eyed Inside Croydon readers have spotted a Reigate-based estate agent marketing some of the Red Clover Gardens flats on the market – some for as much as £2,400 per month.
In the middle of a housing crisis, with Croydon Council’s housing waiting list longer than ever, even a one-bed flat on this Coulsdon development – which cost so much council cash to build – will cost someone a minimum of £18,000 per year in rent. Plus utility bills. Plus Council Tax…
This is reckoned to be the last of Brick by Brick’s developments to be off-loaded.
According to Maxwell Valentine, the Reigate-based estate agents handling the flats (on behalf of whom, they don’t bother to say), “Key features” include the properties being “New build” (they were finished in 2022), “luxury apartments”, “award-winning architecture”, “parking options” (the flats are next to what’s left of the public car park) and “conceirge” (sic).
Croydon Council, and what’s left of Brick by Brick, its wholly-owned housing developer, have been struggling for months to find someone to take Red Clover Gardens off their hands, in return for millions to help drive down the cash-strapped council’s mountain of debt.
An asking price of at least £40million for the five blocks was mentioned – a mere fraction of the £200million loaned to BxB which ultimately bankrupted the borough.
It was late 2022 when it emerged that the council, under Conservative control, was negotiating a deal with Notting Hill Genesis, a housing association, for them to acquire all of BxB’s flats on Lion Green Road.
Sky-high rents: how a Reigate-based estate agent is marketing the Brick by Brick flats
Notting Hill Genesis pulled out of their deal early in 2023. They wanted the flats for at least £10million less than Croydon’s asking price.
But the council found another buyer, called Regen Capital, where they were to use more complicated, opaque lease-back arrangements and other financial gymnastics. Croydon Tories posted a self-congratulatory announcement on their own website in July 2023 stating that Regen Capital “… will acquire the freehold to the development”.
When the public looked into Regen Capital, they were concerned at the business’s lack of capital heft to run a deal, or manage flats, on the scale of the offer at Coulsdon.
Cost of living crisis: Red Clover Gardens was supposed to be a development of council homes as well as high-priced high-rises
According to Croydon’s Tories, and therefore Jason Cummings, the council cabinet member for finance who will have been behind the negotiations, “The council will take on a long lease for the affordable units but will immediately sub-lease them to Mears or one of their registered providers.”
The tenants, the Tories said, “will become Mears tenants with the council not involved in any day-to-day management of the tenancies or the properties”.
Seventy-two of the flats would be Regen’s to rent or sell, according to the Tories.
This deal had to pass through cabinet and get approval from Mayor Jason Perry, which it duly did. All would be done by August, we were told, the money was as good as in the bank.
Then tumbleweed again. The flats remained empty, the deal still not complete.
“It is perfectly normal for organisations to create a dormant business with low-issued capital for the purpose of negotiating property deals such as this,” Cummings – by now the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Croydon East – told a Town Hall meeting six months ago.
The council, Cummings said then, was conducting “due diligence”, and is checking “the track records of the people involved”.
“When negotiations are complete the final documentation will set out in clear terms the commercial relationships between purchaser, funder and lease-holder,” Cummings said.
Key features: ‘Conceirge’
No such “final documentation” has yet been made available.
In the meagre details that the council has been forced to release about the possible sale, it appears that there is to be a significant change in the occupancy mix of the flats, something which ought to require retrospective planning consent. This matter has also never been resolved, at least not publicly.
Yet now, some of the flats are available for rent.
“Maxwell Valentine is excited to announce beautiful, brand new one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in Red Clover Gardens, in the heart of Coulsdon,” according to the estate agents.
“These stunning, modern apartments are situated among generous gardens and greenery, offering the perfect balance of modern living in a beautiful peaceful location.
Empty homes: architecture correspondents in the posh Sunday papers have waxed lyrical about Mary Duggan’s architectural designs for Lion Green Road car park in Coulsdon. But the properties remained unsold for almost two years after completion
“The apartments are of a contemporary design with open-plan living and kitchen areas, equipped with high-end appliances and modern bathrooms, and can all be let furnished or unfurnished.
“Each apartment has been designed with a dual aspect for maximum light with inset corner balconies offering views of the park and hills.
“Red Clover Gardens is within a short walk of Coulsdon Town train station and Coulsdon High Street offering a variety of shops, restaurants and cafes. It is set in an ideal location providing a peaceful community atmosphere surrounded by beautiful green spaces, while still being within easy commuting distance into the capital.”
Sounds lovely. For those who can afford it.
But what’s this? No sooner had some of the flats been put up for rent, than they were withdrawn… Maybe the long-running saga of Red Clover Gardens is not over just yet? Something which Jason Cummings might find a bit awks if the questions arise while he is trying to move on to bigger and better things as an MP.
Read more: Brick by Brick’s unsold homes are costing Croydon a fortune
Read more: Council risks being in the red over BxB’s Red Clover Gardens
Read more: BxB’s collapse was predictable. Why did no one else notice?
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
I like the idea of Mayor Perry doing due diligence on the people who enter into contracts with the Council. Perhaps the problem is that the people who are entering into contracts with the Council are doing due diligence on him and discover his leading role in CCURV (the failed development JV with John Laing), his appointing Jo Negrini, the blight in Central Croydon, 21 percent council tax hikes, ad infinitum, etc.
Business is a two way process.
On that note hopefully we’ll also have some due diligence from the voters for the next mayor too.
This block looks very similar to other BxB developments. Did they bother to employ an architect every time. or just cut and paste the plans from the previous ones?
Can someone explain in clear unambiguous language, what the latest turn of events in the seemingly endless Red Clover Gardens sale and leaseback deal means?