Historic Trust Landlords Seek Legal Advice on Right to Buy

Four housing associations established by Victorian philanthropists have taken legal advice on the government’s proposed Right to Buy extension and have ‘not ruled out a challenge’.  Guinness Housing, the Peabody Trust, Affinity Sutton and Southern Housing met recently with top housing lawyers to understand how the policy would affect their historic charitable stock. The four organisations, which together own around 180,000 homes, were all established by philanthropists who invested their fortunes to help house poor residents of London. The organisations have specific governing instruments, with Peabody incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1948 stipulating that it should work solely in London for the relief of poverty. Read more on Inside Housing.

Section 106 Renegotiation Puts Affordable Homes at Risk

The social housing sector has warned that government planning changes could threaten the £1.8 billion affordable homes programme.  The government recently announced measures to allow developers to renegotiate affordable housing requirements on stalled development schemes. These requirements, or section 106 agreements, can be challenged by developers who feel obligations to build a certain number of affordable homes make developments unviable.  Forty-two per cent of the 60,000-home Guinness Partnership’s programme is section 106 dependent. This equates to around 1,300 homes, of which 800 are not yet contracted and therefore under threat. The Homes and Communities Agency estimates around 25 per cent of the AHP relies on section 106 agreements.  Read more on Inside Housing.