01 June 2007
A review of accounting procedures for housing associations looks set to drag on to the end of the year after landlords failed to agree on how to deal with shared ownership sales.
Steady increases in shared ownership and other mixed-tenure developments is making the latest review of Accounting by registered social landlords, the statement of recommended practice, more complex than usual.
A working party set up by the National Housing Federation and its Scottish and Welsh counterparts had hoped to agree the new SORP in early 2007, but consultations will now continue until August.
At present, shared ownership sales are counted as trading income only when the second part of a home is sold. But some RSLs believe that the first part of a sale should also count as income, and therefore profit.
Bob Wilson, assistant director at the NHF, said the issue could no longer be glossed over by landlords. 'Shared ownership and mixed tenure developments have become larger parts of housing association business,' he said. 'They need to be dealt with properly.'
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