07 March 2003
Councils hoping to transfer their housing have been warned against creating a single new landlord for the entire stock.
New guidance on large-scale voluntary transfers, published this week by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, states that such transfers to monolithic landlords will be discouraged.
The government is trying to kick-start the transfer process after it stalled while local authorities awaited publication of the ODPM white paper, Sustainable communities.
But while ministers still see transfer as the best way for councils to upgrade their housing and meet the decent homes target, they want to encourage more competition between registered social landlords wishing to take over properties.
Junior housing minister Tony McNulty said the government is keen to see 'locally tailored solutions', including transfers to existing landlords. He suggested some RSLs might end up owning ex-council homes in more than one local authority.
'We will not automatically rule out a proposal for the transfer of dwellings to a housing association with stock in a neighbouring local authority, where this is proposed as the result of competition and where it is clear that this is what tenants want,' he told a National Housing Federation conference in Manchester.
The vast majority of transfers since 1988 have been to newly created RSLs. Councils that wish to join the 2003/04 programme must express an interest by March 21 and make a full application by April 16.
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