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Dolphin to keep homes free from government policies

A housing charity has decided to keep a central London estate it ‘saved’ out of its registered housing association arm, to ensure the properties are not affected by new government policies.  

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Dolphin Living, which acquired the New Era Estate from an American investor in January, will continue to hold the 150 properties it owns within its charitable foundation.

This means the homes will not be subject to the Right to Buy, rent cut or Pay to Stay, and the charity is free to push ahead with its innovative approach to individual rent-setting.

It set up a housing association subsidiary in January, which will now just serve to hold its small portfolio of social rented units.

Jon Gooding, chief executive of Dolphin Living, told Inside Housing: “We have the kind of off-balance sheet arrangement most housing associations are currently dreaming of. The assets are owned by the charitable foundation, which is not registered with the Homes and Communities Agency.

“We had intended to grant leases to our registered housing association – but for reasons you can probably understand we are not doing that now.”

The landlord is progressing plans to sign tenants up to individual rents – where they disclose incomes voluntarily, in exchange for a ‘fair’ rent calculated according to Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) measures on appropriate levels of disposable income.

It is in the process of one-to-one interviews with tenants, and will “gently” increase some rents where appropriate as a result.

Tenants who choose not to sign up will see rents increase at 4.5% plus the Consumer Price Index of inflation annually.

Housing associations have repeatedly called for more freedom over rent-setting – with the National Housing Federation and JRF putting forward a proposal for Living Rents based on incomes in June.


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