28 February 2003
Bradford has become the first local authority to have its early loan redemption fees paid to help fund a housing transfer.
The city council's handover of almost 25,000 homes to Bradford Community Housing Trust Group, a new registered social landlord, was confirmed this week.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is paying £181m to remove Bradford's overhanging debt – the ninth time that it has paid the difference between what a council receives for its stock and what it still owes lenders from when it built the homes.
The ODPM is also paying £5.5m to cover Bradford's 'breakage costs' (early loan repayment charges), the first time it has done this.
Ministers promised in the planning paper, Sustainable communities, that they were committed to removing barriers to stock transfers, including meeting the cost of early debt redemption and extending overhanging debt payments to partial transfers.
Without the money to cover breakage costs, there were fears that Bradford's transfer would not go ahead. The new RSL, made up of six local housing companies, is paying the council £70m for the homes.
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