RTB on Crown Estate property

hunnybugs1

My Gran has rented a house from the Crown Estate for about 45 years. We have enquired about her right to buy and they say that she has no right to buy it. The thing is if it were a council owned property she would have the full discount on this property. As it stands, it is a substandard property and we know that they are just dragging their heels until she passes away and then will do it up and rent it at a grossly inflated rate. We dont think that it is right that she is not allowed to buy it but is it something to do with the property belonging to the Crown? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

calleyw

hunnybugs1 wrote:

My Gran has rented a house from the Crown Estate for about 45 years. We have enquired about her right to buy and they say that she has no right to buy it. The thing is if it were a council owned property she would have the full discount on this property. As it stands, it is a substandard property and we know that they are just dragging their heels until she passes away and then will do it up and rent it at a grossly inflated rate. We dont think that it is right that she is not allowed to buy it but is it something to do with the property belonging to the Crown? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I have to ask why you think she has a RTB. If she was living in a private rented property she would not be entitled to.

So why in a crown property. They have given you answer and the answer was No. As much as you don't like it. I can't see what it has to do with you or your family if they do up the property and rent it for vast sums.

If you believe it is a substandard property have you reported it to the landlord. And it should be brought up to standard.

As far as I am aware RTB only covers housing association/LA housing and not crown properties as that is totally different. Even if they willing to sale it would be at market rate or most likely at auction. So you would get no discount.


Yours

Calley

dboswell

a large amount of "crown" property is theft anyway.

hunnybugs1

calleyw
That is why I was asking BECAUSE I DIDNT KNOW!!! I only asked if she did have the right to buy. OH and we have asked until we are blue in the face for them to upgrade it so please keep your unwanted comments to yourself. I wanted help not criticism.

:mad:

Doozergirl

The response may well have been curt, but there was an answer to your question there too. It would be far more dignified not to SHOUT at people in response.

The right to buy applies to social housing only. The fact that you've asked the landlords and they said that your gran has no right to buy, would indicate that Her Majesty does not see herself as a social landlord.

If you really want to buy the property, there would be nothing to stop you asking if they would be willing to sell. Obviously, no discount applies, but the fact that it needs refurbishing would make it's value lower. I suspect the answer would be 'No' again, but you could try.

Otherwise, why don't you talk to them about getting the property refurbished to some degree? It would be much nicer for your gran and you might get a more positive response from your landlord.

hunnybugs1

I wasnt aware of the rules for RTB and that is why I asked. I didnt expect to be sneered at, that is what I was saying. I thought their comments were unfair when I asked a perfectly innocent question and I am fed up with people on this site talking to me like that. The majority are ok (yourself included) bit I have got to the point where I am hesitant to write anything for fear of ridicule.
Anyway, to get back on the subject in hand:- in answer to your points about upgrading the property, as I said before, we have made repeated requests for this and they are just not interested in helping her. She even had to pay for half of the installation of her central heating (we had a real fight for them to pay half!!); they wont upgrade her kitchen which is 30 years old; she has no double glazing etc etc etc
:wall:

Doozergirl

Your poor gran. I could only suggest taking some advice from the CAB or similar to help your situation. I'd hate to live in a property that probably hadn't had any major work caried out for such a long period of time. In fact, this house that I'm selling was tenanted by a lady that had lived here for something like 40 years and it was in such a poor state of repair that the council branded it derelict when we invited them here. We only bought it two months after she died and the landlord thought this particular house was in good nick! Such is the problem of being along term tenant of a private landlord; they won't do anything unless they have to

Sometimes things can be misread and you take them in a manner that they weren't intended. Maybe think about the way that you write too as sometimes the way in which you write could provoke people to respond in a similar manner; if you ask a question and accompany that with a very strong opinion, you will find you receive a very strong opinion in return as people think you can take it Maybe save the strong opinion or frustration for the follwup to your original post, when you've had some answers?

I hope you continue to post as we're such a lovely bunch of people! :grouphug:

moremoney_2

Is it not possible to get social work or Occupation Therapy to get in touch with the Crown Estate on your grans behalf? If the house is substandard surely there are laws in place to deal with this, especially for the elderly? I hope this is some help and I can see where you are coming from regarding calleyws response. It was unnecessary. You were asking IF your gran had a right to buy not moaning because she didn't.

ethank

Invite the local paper round to take pictures of the state of the property, and have them published in a local new paper, and embarass the Crown Estate (ultimately owned by the Queen) into paying up. I can imagine it now "Queen would prefer Gran to Freeze Shock!" Seriously though, when Windsor Castle had a large fire was it not the tax payer that paid up?

It is absolutely disgraceful that your Gran has contributed to the "Queen's Country" for the last few tens of years, as well as been a good tenant, and that they will not upgrade her property. They probably want her out, so they can charge someone ten times the rent.

Good Luck with it. I hope they see sense.

Ian_W

Lest anyone gets too carried away with the idea of Liz trolling around a load of houses every Friday night collecting the rent, Crown Property really means land/houses owned by the Government. This is the intro to the Crown Estates 2004 Annual Report:

There is no organisation in the world quite like The Crown Estate.

With a property portfolio encompassing many of the UK’s cityscapes, ancient forests, farms, parkland, coastline and communities, The Crown Estate’s role as guardian, facilitator, manager, influencer, employer and revenue creator is unique.

We have two main objectives: to benefit the taxpayer by paying the revenue from our assets directly to the Exchequer and to enhance the value of the estate and the income it generates.

Our portfolio has a value in excess of £4 billion, demanding the utmost in professionalism and efficiency from our staff and management to create added value for everyone - the people, businesses and communities who deal with us, and the nation as a whole.

The rest of the report is HERE. It's run by an appointed Board and the revenue it raises goes to the Treasury not direct to HMQ.

Lots of laws don't apply to Crown Property, or they certainly didn't but that may have changed more recently, but certainly RTB was never intended to apply to Crown Property which is a mixture of "private" landlord type arrangements and job related property supplied to people [Forestry Commission, Armed Services etc, etc] who work for the Crown.

Reference your Grans place not being kept up to scratch the CAB is probably the best starting point, after checking what her lease or similar documentation [sometimes it's a licence rather than lease] has to say about the Crown Estates responsibility towards her. BoL with improving her living conditions.