Residents in a former slate community in north Wales are facing a rent increase of up to 60% after their village was sold for around £1m to a real estate company. The former 16 quarrymen's houses and cottages in Aberllefenni in Gwynedd first went up for sale in 2016 and a deal was secured with a London real estate investment company last year.
The row of nine houses and the additional cottages were built in the 1700s as accommodation for quarrymen and their families. Under the previous owner, the family of John Lloyd from Inigo Jones Slate Works, the rent rose by 3% per annum. The same tenants have lived in some houses for more than 20 years.
But now it is claimed that some tenants have received eviction notices following the sale in October, the BBC reports. A number of tenants are now worried that they won't be able to afford the hike, with one tenant facing an increase of more than 60%. The new owner, Walsh Investment Properties, said that is is "fair and reasonable to charge a market rent" and that most properties had been paying a low rent for years.
