National Trust rents

This is a big issue in Mottisfont - where a large number of properties are owned by the National Trust. Tenants have received shock demands for increases ranging from 20-65%. I will admit that it has been a couple of years since the last rent rise but the most peculiar aspect of all this is that some people have improved the properties at their own expense and these people have been faced with the largest increases. There is a phrase to describe this sort of behaviour but it is not very ladylike. Most villagers accepted that there were limits to what I can do but I had a bit of a job persuading one that I could not singlehandedly change the 1907 Housing Act singlehandedly and overnight (even then that might not have been the complete answer to the problem) - so sometimes attending meetings such as this is more about managing expectations than promising the earth.