STOP CROWN ESTATE EVICTIONS

*BREAKING NEWS 01.05.2014* Jason & Jenny Wright, have received a letter from the Crown admitting CE have made a "serious error" with the tenancy agreement? They say we should not have been issued a AST and that we can now stay in the property. I cannot be sure how much of the decision to let us stay has been due to media exposure of CE eviction policy. I'm sure they will say that the petition and media campaign has no bearing. I'll let you decide! Remember this is a BIG MISTAKE! Perhaps they have made similar BIG MISTAKES with other tenants? If you have previously rented from a farmer you may well be entitled to stay under an assured tenancy! The outcome for us as a family is a bitter-sweet pill. We are pleased that a positive resolution has been reached but we are also painfully conscience of turmoil for those 199 families still facing eviction. This is not about our family, but ALL families. 1 victory in 199 is really no victory. Rest assured we will continue to campaign to STOP CROWN EVICTIONS. We now have MP's, Councillors, Solicitors and the Media on board, so please continue to fight for what is morally right. Remember CE is a Government sponsored organisation, they cannot hide behind the mask of commercialism no matter what the mandate or claims. They must listen to public opinion and STOP CROWN EVICTIONS NOW!

Have a petition on the govt web site. If enough signatures (100000) on it then you may trigger a debate in the house. .direct.gov.uk/petitions/64295 . Bend your MP 's ear ( but nicely as you want him or her on your side.

Hi everyone, ITV has now been contacted, many thanks Jason & Vicky

Hi Jason - can you please ring Annie at Good Morning Britain (ITV Breakfast) 0207 827 7305

Anyone renting from the crown is a potential victim of their "eviction for profit" policy. I would suggest contacting the Crown direct, bypass the Estate Agent as they are just "puppets on a string” Ask the Crown what they have planned by way of property disposal in your area and ask if your property is on the list. If not then get them to provide a written assurance of your long term tenancy. They are unlikely to agree to this as Crown tenants have generally been moved over to “AST” agreements which give them legal leverage to “evict at will”. Hope that helps. Best wishes Jason

Hi Paul, many thanks for sharing your thoughts. I fully appreciate your situation, I too have spent many thousands on what was essentially a "shell" of a house when we moved into our Crown House 22 years ago. The Crown Estate has had schemes suggested to them, for example selling property to the Rural Housing Association, or part buying homes for those who cannot afford to buy the whole property. Various ideas have and are been put forth. Sadly the Crown has not responded favorably to these suggestions. Rather this monolithic organisation acts in an autocratic archaic manner treating tenants like plebeians. The Crown officials hide behind legislation and "law" such as the "AST" agreement. Hence they try and shift moral culpability to a "straw man" of their own making. One would hope that Parliament will address this as a moral issue and put a stop to forced evictions. Like you say where do we move too? The council here in Lincolnshire has no spare property. How do you raise the money to move? Who reimburses the costs? What about the emotional cost? One would hope that the HM Queen would speak up on behalf of her subjects? After all under the "Sovereign Grant Acts of 2011" HM Queen receives 15% of Crown Estate profits "rounded up to the nearest £100,000" !! Perhaps we can move in with her?

We (family of 3) have been given until the end of June. We don't know what we're going to do! Had we known, we wouldn't have spent the money we did refitting (practically rebuilding) the bathroom and kitchen last year and would have kept it towards a deposit or moving costs instead. I appreciate that the Crown Estates has a legal obligation to act as a business but surely they could have thought of a few schemes to ease the pressure. A joint ownership scheme would have helped them here. There is nowhere else to go in this area. Where are we and all these families meant to live? This must be brought up in parliament as soon as it re-opens.

Hi Judy, very sorry to hear of your plight. We had a meeting with the "big wigs" from Crown Estate but the bottom line is still the same "profit over people" Their avarice is palpable. To paraphrase "they have targets to meet" and thus we become collateral damage in the process of achieving best performance. They suggested that what they are doing by selling off property is to the "greater good of the tax payer" because the profits go to the treasury! Passing the buck! I'm sure these guys would have made good SS officers - "just doing my job, Sir"! This situation is crazy, we have a shortage of affordable homes here in Lincolnshire, young people cannot afford to buy and yet the Crown Estate seems oblivious to the plight of such people. The Crown has no shame. This monolithic edifice is in serious need of reformation. My e-mail if you wish to contact me direct is [email protected] I would like to connect people across the country who have been evicted by the Crown or who are facing eviction. In fact whatever "bad experience" you have had with the Crown - its time to speak up and stand up for truth! We do have the moral high ground. If anyone would like to run a blog, collect data/testimony and expose the perfidious actions of the Crown then please contact me. Best wishes to all, and thank you for signing this petition - Jason Wright (campaign co-ordinator)

Totally with you, and all who are affected by this disgusting action by the Crown Estates. Please let me know if I can lend a hand with any practical aspects of pursuing justice and fairness against these draconian, bully-boy practices.

Life is a roller coaster for many people, but one thing we hope we have in the UK is security. In the case of housing wether we have a mortgage or rent we make that house our home. We feel secure in that home. The longer we live in that home the more secure we become. While it is true that the owner of a property has the right to sell that property, we would expect a far higher degree of integrity with Crown Estates. Sadly their rhetoric does not reflect reality. Crown Estates once provided thousands of affordable properties for local residents across the UK. These were often "tied" properties or properties "for life" Consequently as long as the rent was paid your security was ensured. However as the Crown Estate has changed from a socially motivated organisation to a profit making organisation such affordable homes have been surreptitiously sold off. Individuals are sent eviction letters without prior warning and forced to leave. The trauma caused to families is axiomatic. This petition is to expose such perfidious policy. Please make your voice heard and sign this petition.

Hi Jason, we rent a crown property, how can we find out if we are on the list?

A Royalist as well? The Queen receives from the Treasury 15% of the CE profits. I have no problem with that, but receiving profits on the eviction of tenants. Is that morally correct? Or should the Queen turn "a blind eye” on the basis of a legal loophole? Pilot tried the same trick with Jesus! Remember the Tax payer pays out millions to the Royals maintaining fine buildings and a utopian life style, yet you have the audacity to say that all those CE tenants that are being kicked out for profit should not be reimbursed for the money spent on their property! Truly a remarkable and statement in the light of 199 evictions. Callous and deeply offensive. Do you think the Queen should be evicted? Or maybe her distant cousins? After all should there be any class division in a post-modern pluralistic society? Perhaps a Royal property in London could be sold so that her subjects are not kicked out on their ear? It would seem you have little if any understanding of how CE works. Have you ever rented from CE? Have you ever seen some of the CE properties? When we moved into our house we had only a sink, no kitchen! The walls needed re-plastering etc. but we had nowhere else to move to, so we spent money on the property on behalf of the landlord. This we did on the premise that costs would be reimbursed upon leaving. We made this our home, as have all tenants of CE. You make an interesting point concerning a mortgage. Firstly let us remind ourselves that Thatcher’s Britain has created a property monster wherein those who rent are now classed as second class citizens. Let me make it clear that not everyone has the means to buy a house nor does everyone want to be lumbered with a mortgage. If you lived in France or Germany “renting” is the norm not buying, yet in France CE would NEVER be able to evict at will under the guise of a AST, Why? because in France tenants are given much better rights. 199 evictions in France would never happen. It would create public outrage.

We live in somerset , and we have also been told to buy or get out , no offer of moving costs !!!!!!!!! so if you have no savings , how are you suppose to move it cost over a £1000, to move . also is this helping the housing problem the councils are facing , also i have to leave my job as we have to move from here to find a property , what are these people thinking about , shitting on us people who pay our rent every month and there wages ......................