Bartholomew House is being openly marketed as an investment sale:

Unconditional offers invited “in the region of £5 million” for a new 250‑year lease at a peppercorn ground rent. 

This can become a hotel and residential / HMO‑type accommodation – making it ideal for high‑end holiday lets or serviced apartments as well as continued office.​ Maximum profit extraction.

I, the undersigned demand The Council:

1. Stop the council from quietly giving Bartholomew House away on a 250‑year deal.
2. Make the council freeze any sale until the public are told the full truth.
3. Force an emergency town hall meeting so this cannot be done behind closed doors.
4. Use Bartholomew House for council‑run homes and emergency housing, not posh holiday lets.
5. Check and challenge the £19m private temp housing deal at the same time.
6. Make sure council‑owned buildings are used to help local people first, not to make easy money for private investors.

This is not a minor asset. It is one of the council’s flagship city‑centre properties – being packaged up on a 250‑year peppercorn lease designed to attract exactly the kind of holiday‑let / corporate‑apartment investor that has already pushed local rents through the roof.

The council say ‘it hasn’t been sold’ when asked by press – this petition is to force full transparency and stop any sale completing before residents have their say.

This petition is about urgently forcing transparency and a pause before Brighton loses another core city‑centre asset for 250 years.

In a city with 2,000+ households in temporary accommodation and a £18.86m private TA contract, this building should be used as council‑run housing, not another long‑term profit machine for private landlords.

HALT THE BARTS HOUSE SELL‑OFF.
USE IT FOR HOMES, NOT HOLIDAY PROFITS.