TENANTS FACE EVICTION FROM POPPY FACTORY ESTATE
Tenants of the Poppy Factory estate on Petersham Road, Richmond Hill, have been issued Section 21 notices to leave their homes because they are unable to pay the much higher rents being demanded, it has been revealed.
As many as 28 tenants have been asked to leave their homes by their landlords, the Poppy Factory charity.
Many of the tenants have been living there for years, are embedded in the community with children in local schools. Some of the residents have health issues and/or are single parents and few can afford to stay within the area due to high rents in Richmond.
Leader of the Opposition, Green Councillor Andrée Frieze, says: “I am truly shocked that the Poppy Factory is behaving this way. These are longstanding tenants, some are older, some are vulnerable, all of them are part of our community.
“I have met the CEO of the Poppy Factory and while I understand its objectives are to support veterans, as a charity it has moral and ethical obligations to behave decently to everyone it engages with.
“It is clear that the Poppy Factory – a charity – is evicting tenants and raising their rents massively before the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force on 1 May 2026. The Act is designed precisely to prevent landlords from evicting tenants and raising rents significantly above inflation.
“Furthermore, these sudden evictions will put pressure on Richmond Council’s temporary accommodation, with the result that residents may well be forced into housing outside the borough. This is not the only landlord stooping to using Section 21 evictions, with residents in Garden Court in Kew similarly affected.
“The Green Party is also aware that tenants in around 50 properties that Richmond Foundation lets to social tenants are having their rents increased dramatically, in some cases up to 70 per cent of market rates from 50 per cent currently.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Chas Warlow says: “I was surprised to hear from residents that their landlord – charity Richmond Foundation – is increasing rents by hundreds of pounds a month and in some cases doubling it.
“While I understand that exceptions are being made when the new rent levels are genuinely unaffordable and that apparently no one will be evicted, this is impacting people who are the least able to afford it and surely goes against the grain of the Foundation’s ethics.”
Amanda Shepard, Chief Executive of The Poppy Factory, said: “We recognise that proposed rent increases on some privately rented homes have caused concern and we are speaking with tenants about their individual circumstances.
“The affected homes are let on the open market and rents have often been well below local levels.
“We have a legal duty as a charity to collect reasonable market rent, to protect our work helping the most vulnerable veterans and their families into civilian employment across England and Wales.
“No veteran households are affected. No one is being asked to pay more than others already pay for similar properties, or above market rent for the property condition.”