Beach Hut Tenants Rebel
MARISA McGREEVY ROSE
A group of tenants of the beach huts at West Marina are demanding that Hastings Borough Council (HBC), their landlord, schedule a full programme of maintenance to bring the huts “back up to working order”. In the alternative they have asked to be allowed to undertake their own maintenance and deduct the cost from their rent.
There are 86 huts at issue, arrayed in two rows just beyond the Old Bathing Pool. Their rents or “licence fees” have almost doubled in the last six years – a front-row hut facing the sea cost £900 in 2018; this rose to £1,367 in 2020. The invoiced figure for 2024 is £1,752.
At that level, and even allowing for slightly moderated rents for the back-row huts, HBC would be grossing nearly £150,000 per year.
REPAIR BUDGET
Some beach hut contracts state expressly that HBC is responsible for external maintenance, others don’t mention external maintenance at all, yet all huts have been subject to the same level of rent rises. The tenants say they have been told that the council allocates an annual budget of just £8,000 for their upkeep, which seems to be expended on ‘ad hoc’ emergency repairs. No regular maintenance has been undertaken, either to the huts or to the toilets which serve them, for many years.
“They need painting ASAP,” says Susie Barnard, whose hut is on the front row. “Much of the wood is now exposed and will soon start rotting – some already has. This will incur far more work and cost than painting would have. I’ve emailed the Resorts office many times and even spoken to the leader (now ex-leader) of the council. We’re told they have no budget to do the work.”
A source within HBC advised that the council did explore “a light touch redecoration of all of the huts at that site this year”, but that the quote for the works was too high. The officer also shared that “whilst the external decoration of the huts is in a relatively worn condition, the team have carried out three separate repairs recently, including to damaged roof felt”. Unfortunately, according to an industry professional who recently reviewed the condition of the huts, the repair work that has been carried out (viz. nailing batons into the roof) has created holes in the roof felt, so these are now leaking.
Polly Brookes, another front-row tenant, removed black mould from her interior last year and paid her own contractor to repaint. Currently she is unable to open the hut at all. “Council workmen have put the lock on upside down,” she reports, “so it’s filled with water and is now too rusty to open.”
The lack of maintenance has also extended to the toilets. “We have been complaining about the state of the toilets for ages,” says another tenant, Jean Harvey. “They are disgusting.”
APPROACH TO HBC
In early January a letter was submitted to Victoria Conheady (Director of Place at HBC) and Aaron Woods (Resort Services Manager) proposing that the council collaborate with the tenants in getting works undertaken with costs to be deducted from the rent. Within hours of acknowledging receipt of this letter, the council issued invoices to all tenants demanding full payment of the year’s rent by 31 January. A further written response from Woods advised that HBC did not feel that a meeting with the tenants was appropriate at this time, as “there isn’t a constituted body who represents the site, and tenants with issues can contact HBC via other routes, including the My Hastings website.”
The tenants have decided to go to the top, using the Public Question Time slot at the start of HBC cabinet meetings. A group were due to attend this week’s meeting (taking place on Monday evening as this report was being filed) in order to present their proposal to set off maintenance costs against the rent demands.
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