An advert for one of the flats on a holiday website

HOUSING association flats in Somers Town are being sold off and rented to tourists during the housing crisis, while tenants in the same blocks report damp, rats and disrepair.

Hill-Wood House in Polygon Road, off ­Eversholt Street, is owned by housing association Places for People, which merged with Origin Housing earlier this year.

Five flats in Hill-Wood House have been sold – two to individuals, three to small real estate companies – since 2024, with residents saying that Places for People told them these properties were “excess stock”.

The New Journal has also identified at least two flats in the block that are being rented to tourists on Airbnb and booking.com.

Residents have questioned the private sale and rental of properties while there are more than 8,000 people on Camden’s housing waiting list – and while their own repairs complaints are left unaddressed.

Care home manager Debra Barton moved into Hill-Wood House in 2021, and since then she has reported dozens of problems to the housing association – rats in the overgrown communal garden, a smashed fire door in the entryway, and people routinely using the building’s plant room as a place to sleep and use drugs.

“I call this the forgotten block,” she told the New Journal.

“Places for People respond to complaints initially, then they pass it around different departments and it disappears into the ether.

“Nothing happens, and nobody takes ownership. There is no transparency, and nobody takes the duty of care into consideration.

“Don’t think that because we are social housing tenants that we have to put up with this rubbish. Don’t class us as the lowest of the low. This is not acceptable.”

Debra Barton has lived in Hill-Wood House since 2021

She added: “They keep saying that the flats they have sold were void, excess stock. But how can there be excess stock?”

For Ms Barton, Hill-Wood House residents are “forgotten” while private owners profit from the tourists she regularly sees wheeling their suitcases in and out of the building.

Of the five flats that have been sold, three were bought by property letting companies – including Science Nest Limited, which owns two flats there – while the remaining two went to individual buyers with addresses registered in China.

Another tenant, who did not wish to be named for fear of eviction, told the New Journal: “I worked in homelessness for 10 years on and off, and we were continually being told ‘oh, there’s no housing available for people in Camden’. So how can there be excess stock? It’s insanity.

“These properties were designed for social housing, to foster community and connection. All of that has gradually gone.”

Ms Barton is not alone in reporting disrepair in the Polygon Road block.

Leanne Carlisle immediately noticed mould growing up through her carpet when she moved into Hill-wood House, as well as a hot water pipe in her children’s bedroom that is scalding hot to touch all year-round.

Damp damage in one of the flats

Residents have complained about rats in the garden

Ms Carlisle’s carpets were removed but have not yet been replaced, leaving her still-damp floors exposed a year on. Organiser of the Camden Federation of Private Tenants, Robert Taylor, told the New Journal there is a “clear mismatch” between what Places for People say is being addressed and “what tenants see as remaining unresolved”.

“Despite repeated assurances about the positive impact the merger between Origin Housing and the much larger Places for People would have on tenants’ day-to-day lives, very little of this is being felt at the ground level so far,” he said.

“It has to be said, that obtaining full and timely answers to [questions] from some members of their staff can be painfully slow, to the point where it feels like you’re constantly wading through treacle. We believe that what their tenants are saying about the quality and cost of the services they receive from the housing association needs to be heard more clearly than ever.”

The location of Hill-wood House is a stark reminder of how housing has changed in Somers Town, where, in 1924, social housing pioneer Father Basil Jellicoe established St Pancras House Improvements Society – one of the earliest housing associa­tions, which eventually evolved into Origin and then Places for People.

The block is sandwiched between St Mary’s Church, where Father Basil Jellicoe served as priest, and a blue plaque to Irene Barclay, the first female chartered surveyor in Britain, who also worked at the St Pancras House Improvements Society.

A Places for People spokesperson said: “We are working to address the issues raised. Customers have a right to feel safe and proud of where they live.

“Repairs have taken longer than they should, including the damaged fire door, which we will repair this week. Com­mun­i­cation has not been as clear as it might in this instance and we are working to improve this.

“The garden is the responsibility of a commercial business occupying the ground floor, but we will work with them to support its maintenance including enforcing a pest control programme. PfP customers do not pay for the upkeep of this garden.

“We take reports of anti-social behaviour seriously and will work with the Community Safety Warden Service to give Hill-wood House particular attention.

“The decision to sell empty homes was difficult, but was made against significant financial pressures facing Origin Housing before it became part of the PfP Group. Income generated helped safeguard investment in existing homes and services. We will investigate concerns about short-term rentals and take action where lease terms are breached.

“We are keen to work with customers and listen to concerns to ensure existing repair issues are addressed.”