Housing Corporation rules out RSL self-regulation

1 Mar 07
Self-regulation by social landlords would not protect the interests of residents and taxpayers, the Housing Corporation said this week.

02 March 2007

Self-regulation by social landlords would not protect the interests of residents and taxpayers, the Housing Corporation said this week.

Responding to Professor Martin Cave's review of regulation, the corporation called for a simplified registration system for housing associations and private developers that receive government grant.

Features should include more extensive use of self-certification based on new systems of risk management and consumer accountability.

But the corporation stressed that self-certification was not the same as self-regulation, which the National Housing Federation proposes.

Jon Rouse, the corporation's chief executive, told Public Finance that the sector could not be left to regulate itself.

'Co-regulation is the way forward,' he said. 'There has to be a statutory backstop that can take action if things go awry.'

John Bryant, policy leader at the NHF, said the main difference between the two bodies was that the corporation wished to retain registration. 'It is difficult to see how an ongoing system of registration could be administered fairly and equally now that such diverse organisations are eligible for government grant,' he said.

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