People are asking me as one of the founders of BUTA in 1976 what is this meeting on March 10all about?
The answer is simple: it is a clash of values.
When we set up BUTA in the 1970’s, we were a group of tenants of the Church Commissioners. It wanted to sell our flats, about 300 which were part of its Hampstead Estate in Belsize Park to an offshore property company.
We were an eclectic mix, lawyers, a leading surrealist Roland Penrose, Sting’s future wife, and a TV presenter, Brian Inglis.
Brian, never a man to mince his words, wrote in the Spectator at the time:
“Should you be in the region of Belsize Park this January, you will see certain men striding along purposefully, with a glint in their eyes and a spring in their step. Or women, looking preternaturally self-confident and serene. Led by a handful of dedicated individuals we, the members of the Belsize United Tenants Association, have challenged that hydra-headed monster, the Church Commission, and sent it cringing back to its lair.” We were also quoted in Parliament with the strong support of our Tory MP.
We got together to contribute £1 million pounds – a lot of money then. Not everybody could afford to contribute. 80% did. They became Leaseholders. The other 20% became protected tenants with fair rents, or later purchased their flat, or left. Two are still alive today, paying rents set by Camden.
We saw ourselves as Leaseholders. We had 99-year leases then. We set up a company called Nugentways to manage the Freeholds, as it does today. (We bought the company ‘off the shelf’ we never changed the name.)
We then set up BUTA (in full the Belsize United Tenants Association,) as a property management company to manage the estate, again much as it does today.
We saw ourselves as Leaseholders first and foremost. As an administrative convenience we made everybody – including the protected tenants – a shareholder. It was an act of altruism. We never even charged anyone the one pound for the share.
Peta Button a BUTA protected tenant and Director, once summarised BUTA’s founding Policy Document: “BUTA is a non-profit making company with the responsibility to maintain and manage the properties for the benefit of both short and long leaseholders, all of whom hold an equal £1 share in the company.” (Peta, a prominent stage designer passed away last October. She and I had many conversations in the Washington over the years, she was a staunch defender of BUTA’s founding principles.)
We saw BUTA as a resident owned Freeholder. It is still rare after 50 years. It is a community-based organisation. Every Leaseholder contributes to the cost of the Estate, for example, the costs of roofs and damp on a small percentage based on the size of their flat.
My understanding when I read of ‘repatriating capital’ and calling a Shareholders meeting which is legally correct is that the advocates of this look from the ‘other end of the telescope.’ They see Nugentways as a source of assets to be re-paid to Shareholders.
My concern is the self-same 270 flat owners, who are also Leaseholders, will lose out if all reserve funds are removed from Nugentways. They may get funds now, after probably paying a lot of tax as Shareholders.
In future years they will get as Leaseholders higher service demands to pay for weather contingencies and other emergencies.
It’s a difference between those who focus on short term gain, who see BUTA and Nugentways as financial vehicles for extracting value, and those who see it as a long-term investment in their homes as part of a community of flat-owners and tenants.
Brian wrote presciently in 1977: “Here was a co-operative movement which worked. It worked because a few people gave up their evenings, and their weekends, to make it work; it worked because the tenants ultimately had the sense to sink their personal and ideological differences, and to accept compromises to maintain unity. I see no reason why it should not provide a precedent for other estates owned by the Church Commissioners, or by private owners, or by property companies. Perhaps it will.”
The choice on whether it will continue to be a model is yours.
Are you foremost in your mind a Leaseholder or are you a Shareholder?
You decide on March 10th.
Please do vote!
It may seem complicated.
It’s actually very simple and very important.