23 May 2003
Local authorities hoping to transfer individual housing estates to new landlords dominate the list of proposed stock transfers for 2003.
The list, published this week by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, includes 12 partial transfers out of a total of 23.
Nine of the partial transfers are in London while three authorities - Lambeth, Tower Hamlets and Manchester – are each proposing to transfer three separate estates.
The list, delayed while councils had time to digest the Sustainable communities plan, covers 125,806 homes. The largest whole-stock transfers are proposed in Wakefield (33,405), Wirral (14,500) and Middlesbrough (13,163).
While the total figure is much lower than original government projections of 200,000 homes per year, Sarah Webb, director of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said it was quite large, considering the uncertainty that has surrounded transfers for the past 18 months.
The apparent growing popularity of partial transfers suggests that more local authorities are looking towards 'patchwork' solutions, where money is raised for different properties through a variety of means.
Manchester recently became the first council to sign a Private Finance Initiative deal to refurbish homes on another of its estates. But Webb warned that councils must still take a strategic approach to achieving the decent homes target.
'Partial transfers allow authorities to work more closely with tenants and produce a proposal that is tenant-designed,' she said. 'But there is a real danger of cherry picking that could leave local authorities with the worst stock.'
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