Tenants of the National Trust have accused the charity of
creating “ghost towns” out of the villages it owns by hiking up rents to
unaffordable levels and then transforming the vacant properties into holiday
lets. As the owner of many of Britain’s historic monuments and landscapes, the
National Trust is considered to be the custodian of the nation’s heritage, yet
it is also one of the UK’s largest landlords. Now some of its tenants claim it
is “eroding national heritage” by pricing out local people in favour of
tourists. The Trust made £44m from tenants last year, a rise of 39% since 2008,
while wages have remained broadly static. It makes another £10m from holiday
cottages, and has added about 100 to its portfolio in the past 10 years. In
2006, it was advertising its “unique collection of over 320 properties”; now it
is offering 418. Read more on the Guardian website.
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