Introducing the Hastings Cottage Improvement Society
Following recent articles in HIP, Geoff Longmire, a director of the Hastings Cottage Improvement Society, owner of rental properties in and around Hastings Old Town, hopes he can persuade you that not all landlords are the same.
The Hastings Cottage Improvement Society (HCIS) was the creation of William Alexander Greenhill, described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, as a “physician and sanitary reformer”. He first became interested in sanitation when living in Oxford, where he worked with the Ashmolean Society producing reports on public health. Possibly to look after his own health, he moved in 1851 to Hastings, where he worked as a physician at the infirmary. Recognising the poor state of much housing in the borough, in 1857 he founded the Society and remained active as its secretary until 1891.
Copper-plate document
Looking through our archives recently, I came across a beautiful copper-plate document which stated: “In January 1857 a few Hastings gentlemen associated themselves together as a Society called the Hastings Cottage Improvement Society … to purchase and improve cottages and let them to artisans and labourers. Their motives were partly charitable and partly commercial, it being feasible to increase the comfort of the cottages without raising the rents and to have a surplus for a dividend.”
Commemorated five years after being set up
CREDIT: Dave Young
Greenhill’s aim was to raise funds to buy up older, insanitary dwellings and to build some new ones. He saw the problem facing young local residents who could not afford much in the way of rent, and so were being forced out of the town.
1850 sanitary report
Greenhill was not the first to recognise the problems facing the town. In 1850 Edward Cresy had been commissioned by the Borough to report on, “the sewerage, drainage and supply of water and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants.” There were said to be 2097 dwellings in the town in 1850, of which 1400 were “chiefly occupied by artisans, mechanics and fishermen.”
HCIS was incorporated on 17 April 1888 and its primary object was stated to be: “to carry on in and around Hastings in the County of Sussex the business of providing housing and associated amenities”. The shareholders paid a sum of £25 per share, which built up working capital. In addition, in its earlier years, the Society accepted deposits from members, so acting in the manner of a building society.
CREDIT: Ben Bruges
One important factor that distinguishes HCIS from many property-owning companies is a provision in the Articles of Association stating that in the event of the company being wound up or dissolved, half of the remaining assets are to be “given or transferred to one or more housing associations providing residential accommodation to rent in the areas of Hastings and St Leonards…and if and so far as effect cannot be given to such provision, then to some charitable object”. Thus, whilst the Society is not run as a charity, it is underpinned by a significant charitable objective.
Social work
The social work of the Society was extensive in the early years. It encouraged tenants to earn a little extra money by repairing fishing nets and provided money to help meet schooling costs for the children of tenants.
In the early years , the directors also ran a benevolent fund, which received donations from numerous people associated with the Society. In 1889 the 31st report of the fund recorded that those over 70 who had been tenants for ten years or more were to be given a pension of one shilling a week, whilst every tenant who had been in occupation for 20 years would get a pound. Forty-six tenants qualified for the pound and the report states that this, “may be considered equally creditable to the Society and to the tenants”. According to the Office for National Statistics, £1 in 1889 would have the purchasing power of £151 today.
To mark Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897 all tenants – and there were about 300 of them by that time – were given a commemorative florin.
Clearance
In a short period of time, HCIS had built up a sizeable portfolio of properties but many had to be sold as part of the clearance project undertaken by the Council when the Bourne was developed, whilst others were disposed of as not being suitable as people’s expectations changed.
Acknowledging the need for better housing, the Society would rebuild properties where appropriate, a good example being a block on All Saint’s Street acquired in 1884 and immediately rebuilt. When an inquiry was held in 1925 into the Borough plans to clear parts of the old town, they were identified as being “perfectly good dwellings in good repair” which may explain why they were excluded from the clearance scheme.
CREDIT: Ben Bruges
In his book about the development of the Bourne, “Old Town Torn Apart”, Richard Pollard quotes reminiscences of former residents suggesting that, “many landlords were eager to take rent but were totally ignorant when it came to maintaining their property. However, properties belonging to the Society were said to be “looked after to a reasonable standard by all accounts”.
A focus on maintenance
We retain that focus on maintenance. We aim to renovate when properties become vacant, generally refitting bathrooms and kitchens. Whilst the Society of old would pay out pensions and other sums to help the tenants, we focus more these days on the need to maintain the properties, so that in our accounts for 2022 we spent over 46% of income on repairs and maintenance. In the accounts for 1922 the corresponding figure was only 18.4%. Interestingly, the share of income paid out to shareholders is pretty constant, at just over 8% in both 1922 and 2022.
100 a 100 years ago
A hundred years ago, before the clearance of the Old Town, we had over 100 properties. Now we have 61 individual lettable units, including one shop. Keeping in mind that wish of our founders to be both charitable and commercial, our average rent is set at less than 90% of the relevant housing benefit for the properties. Whether we are able to maintain that level of rent depends on how much money has to be spent on complying with new government initiatives.
At present, with people’s thoughts focused on heating costs, we are expediting the fitting of new heating systems to some of the properties and will be providing assistance to tenants needing to improve the insulation of their properties. I would not be so bold as to say we are perfect, but I believe we adopt a compassionate approach to owning and letting property, where pure profit is not the over-arching goal.
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