Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Fourth Council Raiding Rents Exposed

The legal powers deployed by town halls for last month’s £35 million raid on their housing budgets could be ‘contrary’ to the aims of the law they relied on. This was the stark warning issued by external auditors appointed by Canterbury Council, the fourth authority Inside Housing can identify as transferring cash from its housing revenue account to its general fund in September.  As reported previously, the government is investigating a series of similar multi-million pound transfers which took place throughout last month before the legal loophole was officially closed on 1 October.

Councillors in Canterbury voted last month to an irreversible transfer of almost £1 million out of its HRA, despite the auditor’s warning and protests from within its ruling Conservative group. Read more on Inside Housing.

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