industry news
In London, East Thames is expected to merge with L&Q in December with full amalgamation by March 2019. Initially East Thames will stay as a subsidiary of L&Q, managing all of the group’s homes in its East region as well as its care and support operations. The new association will own 85,000 homes
and retain the L&Q branding. It hopes to generate efficiency savings of £40m in the next two years and build 100,000 homes over 10 years, across the whole of the South East and London. Yvonne Arrowsmith, chief executive of East
Thames, said: “East Thames was formed through a merger 30 years ago, so we see it as something which is part of the organisation. We could remain independent, but if we did we wouldn’t be able to build as many homes as are definitely needed in the East region – which is what the organisation was set up to do.”
MERGER WATCH ‘Sector changing’ deals move forward
M
ergers to create three giant-sized social landlords with massive development ambitions have moved
closer to completion, with the potential for shaping the housing sector for many years to come. Spurred on by opportunities to make huge
cost savings and the capacity to invest this in delivering tens of thousands of new homes for rent and sale, the new landlords will join the ranks of the very biggest associations with huge budgets. They could even compete with volume builders. The Government is hoping their financial muscle will be converted into house building programmes the like of which we have not seen in a generation. The most notable deals are:
• Affinity Sutton and Circle joining forces to produce a new association, Clarion with 128,000 homes;
• East Thames will join L&Q to form a 85,000 home landlord; and
• Sovereign and Spectrum are merging to
become a giant HA in the South West with 55,000 properties.
Meanwhile Housing & Care 21, whose proposed merger with Sanctuary collapsed earlier in the year, reacted to tough operating conditions by putting their care home business up for sale.
New homes
Affinity Sutton and Circle are the most advanced following conditional approval from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) for their ‘mega- merger’. The new organisation will be called the Clarion Group. Subject to obtaining approval from their lenders, completion of the merger is expected in November. The new group will consist of a housing
association, Latimer (a commercial development company), and a charitable foundation. Latimer is expected to build 50,000 new homes of various tenures over 10 years from 2019. The new charitable foundation will carry out community investment work.
Surpluses
Down in the South West , Sovereign posted a £45m surplus ahead of its merger with Spectrum with a planned completion before the end of the year. The new organisation plans to build 6,000 new homes over the next five years. Their combined size of 55,000 homes will make them the largest association in the region. Ann Santry, Sanctuary’s chief executive, will remain in her role after the merger. John Simpson, chair of Sovereign, said: “I
believe strongly that more consolidation within the sector is needed and while merger can mean making difficult decisions, it is up to boards to take the lead.” Housing & Care 21 has decided to dispose of its home care service and is in the process of seeking a new provider to take it over. It said it was taking the decision because of squeezed council budgets and the difficulty in recruiting good quality care workers. Its home care business had a turnover of £29.2m in 2015/16 and 90 per cent of this was made through local authority contracts. A spokesperson for Housing & Care 21 said:
“Our staff have worked extremely hard over recent months to achieve the high-quality standards we set for this area of our operations in what are challenging circumstances for all providers. The board has taken the view that it would now be better to pass our operation on as a going concern to a new provider.”
Tougher penalties for landlords renting to illegal immigrants
Prison sentences await landlords who knowingly let their homes to illegal immigrants, the Home Secretary has warned. Amber Rudd MP has announced landlords will
face harsher penalties for renting out to migrants staying in the UK illegally. While the 'Right to Rent' checks, introduced
earlier this year, were treated as civil offences with a maximum fine of £3,000, a series of post- referendum policy announcements are revealing a tougher stance being taken by Ministers. Ms Rudd told the Conservative Party
conference: “I am announcing that from December landlords who knowingly rent out property to people who have no right to be here will be committing a criminal offence. They could go to prison.” The regulations apply to all landlords, in both
the private and social housing sectors but housing associations are not liable to prosecution if they rent a house to an illegal immigrant who has been nominated to them by a local authority from the council’s waiting list. There are fears the new penalties could make
12 | HMM November 2016 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
it even more difficult for foreign nationals to rent homes, with some landlords reluctant to rent their properties to anyone who is not British.
“From December landlords who knowingly rent out property to people who have no right to be here will be committing a criminal offence”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60