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| Tenants’ £93,000
bill for legal wrangle |
A TENANTS’ group which challenged its landlords in court
has been hit with a record bill after conceding defeat in an eight-year
battle.
Shortlife Community Housing (SCH), which represents 900 Camden tenants,
must pay £93,000 in lawyers’ fees after dropping its
High Court challenge against landlords Community Housing Group.
The bill is believed to represent the largest single defeat inflicted
on a tenants’ organisation in British legal history. It has
left tenants reeling.
The case pitted SCH, a tenants-run co-operative which managed up
to 1,000 Camden Council properties, including Hillview estate in
Bloomsbury until 1993, against CHG, the much larger social landlord
which then took over.
It centered on claims that, under the terms of the handover deal,
CHG owed SCH £47,000, which would have gone to five tenants’
associations to fund community events and encourage tenant participation.
And it followed a move last year by CHG to remove elected tenants’
representatives from its board, replacing them with tenants hand-picked
by managers.
But SCH dropped the case last week, citing mounting costs and the
lack of a signed agreement for the £47,000, before finally
agreeing to pay CHG’s £63,000 costs plus its own £30,000
legal bill.
CHG chief executive Mick Sweeney condemned SCH, claiming it had
“wasted money that could have helped house the homeless”.
He added that SCH had a “political agenda aimed at weakening
CHG’s credibility” and that it had not consulted with
its members before launching the case.
But John Mason of SCH said: “From the beginning this has been
about protecting tenants’ right to be involved in the management
of their housing.
“The case was brought on ethical and moral principles and they
were correct, whatever the outcome.
“But we simply could not afford to continue once the case was
escalated to the High Court by CHG.”
SCH treasurer Ray Yates said: “We were told we had a case.
The £55,000 we have left will be given to another housing
movement before we close, although we haven’t decided which,
but it could have been £150,000. We are so angry it has come
to this.” |
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