A property company has been accused of "tearing the heart" out of a Solihull community after imposing rent increases of nearly 30 per cent.
 Nearly 1,000 people living in Solihull and Birmingham found they had a new landlord when their homes were sold by the Ideal Benefit Society, a Moseley-based housing association, for approximately £30 million last December. The buyers, Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based Grainger Trust plc, is the largest holder of rented residential property in the UK. The sale by Ideal gave Grainger Trust a portfolio of 286 houses and 65 flats mostly situated around the Land Rover plant in the Elmdon area of Solihull, and flats at Pitmaston Court in Moseley. It is now telling residents whose short-term contracts are due for renewal they must pay monthly rent increases of as much as 29 per cent or face eviction. One resident, 83-year-old Charlie Merrick, has been told he must pay an extra £96 per month, taking his rent from £344 to £440, to stay in the house he has lived in for 16 years. "It is disgusting. We all know we were on short-term agree-ments and we did use to get the occasional rent increase but nothing like this," said the war veteran. "I have to pay it and I hope I can get council benefit to help me, but how do I know the rent won't go up again next year and the year after?" A campaign has been set up to fight the residents' cause, with meetings held in the Hatchord Brook school in Old Lode Lane, Solihull, every Wednesday night. "It is a moral fight as far as we are concerned," said Adam Williams, who is co-ordinating the residents' campaign. "All we want is long-term tenancy agreements for the people who want to stay and assurances that they will not be hit with inflation-busting rent hikes every time their tenancy comes up for renewal. "I do not even live in one of these properties, thank God, but I have two sisters-in-law, a friend and a friend's mother involved and I just felt I had to help. "Grainger are trying to rip the heart of this community." Brian Crumbley, surveyor and director of the Northumberland and Durham Property Trust Ltd - the arm of Grainger Trust dealing with the properties - said: "No one is going to be evicted. "Although, if residents don't pay their rent they will be treated the same way as anyone else who doesn't pay their rent, of course." He said the increases were due to the residents previously paying "well below market value" and, even with the rises, he claimed they would still be paying below the value of the houses on the open market. He stressed: "We have every sympathy in the world with the residents and we will do all we can to help them if they have difficulty." John Taylor, the Conservative MP for Solihull, met the residents about their situation last weekend. "The situation these people find themselves in sounds like tough stuff to me and I think the landlords are engaged in a form of frightening people of which I thoroughly disapprove," he said. "I have told them I can make representations to Parliament about their case but I have urged them to seek legal advice because I am not convinced their situation lends itself to a political solution." Solihull Council's director of housing Debby Wheatley said: "I cannot criticise the new landlord for what it is doing because it is perfectly legal although one might have hoped Grainger would have gone about it in a different way. "If people are worried about their ability to pay or the prospect of becoming homeless then I would urge them to come to Solihull Connect at the council and we can assess them for what help we can provide." | 
