Hackney Council set to buy Sherry’s Wharf Estate from Canal and River Trust

Hackney Council is in the process of trying to buy Hackney Wick’s Sherry’s Wharf Estate from the Canal and River Trust.

The trust is selling the freehold of the land because it no longer fits its “investment criteria” and has offered it to the town hall before putting it on the market.

Hackney pays £450,000 a year in rent for the 144-home estate after being hit with a 283 per cent increase on the £158,000 it had been paying until 2013.

Officers, who have advised that the cabinet authorises the deal at their meeting tonight, said: “Whilst the council could take its chances in open competition and hope to achieve a purchase at a lesser price there is every prospect this freehold could sell for much more than the current offer price when exposed to the market.”

It is not known how much the deal would cost the council.

Officers added: “The purchase removes the uncertainty of future rent reviews and represents a long term saving as the existing rent was not fully funded in the 2012 self-financing settlement.”