Response A1345897

Response to request for information

Reference

A1345897

Response date

4 November 2021

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) I request the following information:

1. A summary of any housing stock transfer(s) undertaken by the council in the past, including the names of the housing association(s) and the year(s) of transfer
2. A copy/copies of the transfer agreement(s) for any stock transfers
3. If known, a summary of commitments made by the receiving housing association(s) for investment in the stock being transferred (e.g. £50m over 10 years)
4. If known, a summary of commitments made by the receiving housing association(s) for development of affordable housing (e.g. 200 new affordable homes over 5 years)
5. The council’s understanding of the amount invested in the stock by the housing association in the years following the transfer, and whether this part of the agreement was met
6. The council’s understanding of the number of affordable homes delivered by the housing association in the local authority area in the years following the transfer, and whether this part of the agreement was met
7. The amount of money received by the council as part of the stock transfer(s)
8. A summary of how the council spent the money received through the stock transfer(s)

Response

The Stock transfer occurred in 2003, and we do not have full electronic records going back to that period. The majority of records would have been in hard copy form and our retention policy is 6 years.

We have, however, using officer knowledge responded in as much detail as we are able to without exceeding the costs limits under the act.

In answer to your questions:

There was a stock transfer 20 January 2003 to Spirita Ltd (formerly Rushcliffe Homes Ltd). A new partnership agreement was signed 2 April 2007 between Rushcliffe Borough Council and Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd (MHT) and Spirita Ltd

The stock transfer agreement itself is covered by Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) and is therefore exempt from disclosure under s42.

As stated above we do not hold all of the information requested however, there is the following extract from Council in 2002, that is in the public domain already, and addresses some of your points.

We earmarked £4.8m of the useable capital receipt for investment of affordable housing and that this has been used since 2003-04 to deliver 170 units of affordable housing (subsidy equates to £22,000 per dwelling). There is a balance of £1.1m remaining.

The total capital receipt would have had to meet the LSVT Levy and set up costs as set out in the Council extract. The net receipt would have had to be split 25% useable capital receipt (of which we then earmarked £4.8m for affordable housing); 75% would have been set aside by statute to meet long-term liabilities (borrowing). I can confirm that the Council became debt free in May 2003 by applying the set aside receipts.

In terms of commitments by the receiving housing authority for investment in the stock Spirita/MHT committed to using Recycled Capital Grant Fund (RCGF) to produce an additional investment of £2 million over the first seven years of the agreement following 20 January 2003). As at 2 April 2007 MHT had invested £536,520 of the £2million.

Spirita agreed that in appropriate circumstances subject to the availability of funds it would use at least 50% of any surplus produced from the outright sale of units in mixed tenure/mixed use scheme developed under the agreement to support the funding of the social housing parts of the scheme

We do not hold information in relation to commitments made by the receiving housing authority regarding development of affordable housing.