Former Brixton squat where rents cost up to £3,000 a month
A RUN-DOWN row of Edwardian villas once home to a community of squatters has been restored after decades of neglect — with some flats now up for rent at more than £3,000 a month.
The six blocks in Rushcroft Road, Brixton, were seized back by Lambeth council during violent clashes in 2013. During the eviction, squatters, some of whom had lived there rent-free for more than 30 years, fought with bailiffs, with furniture set ablaze in the street.
The 47 properties have been gutted and renovated in a project funded by the sale of half the block to private developers for a reported £2.5 million. On Monday, the first social tenants are due to be handed the keys to 22 flats that have been turned into council housing for local families.
The rest are being marketed privately by estate agency Beresford, which describes them as “stunning brand-new period conversions on one of Brixton’s most popular roads”. One-bedroom flats are being let for £1,603 per month, while four-beds are up for £3,098.
Matthew Bennett, Lambeth’s cabinet me mb e r for housing, said: “I’m delighted tenants will be handed the keys to some of the first new council homes in Brixton in a generation.
“These are lifetime council homes at proper social rents, made available to local families in housing need. There are 21,000 people on Lambeth’s waiting list. Homelessness has risen over the last year with about 1,800 families now in temporary accommodation.”
But Jonathan Bartley, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Streatham, said: “Twenty-two flats is throwing a few crumbs to residents while developers continue to have a banquet.”
Bought by Lambeth in the Seventies, the blocks were intended for demolition to make way for a motorway and high-rise council housing block. When the plan fell through they were left vacant before being taken over by squatters who formed a housing co-operative and lived rent-free.
At the time of the eviction, one said: “This has been our home for 13 years. We put in the work to make the flats liveable when they left them to rot — now there’s money coming into the area they want them back.”
The current development has cost £3.3 million — £1.3 million more than originally forecast — due to “unforseen structural defects”.