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Historic trusts expect RTB exemption under deal
Housing associations established by Victorian philanthropists expect their historic charitable homes to be exempt from the Right to Buy extension, under a proposed voluntary deal.
Four landlords, which hold thousands of homes built without any government grant, had been outraged at plans to sell them to tenants at a discount.
It is understood the landlords – Affinity Sutton, Southern, Peabody and Guinness – have received assurances that these properties would be exempted under a voluntary deal proposed by the National Housing Federation (NHF).
The proposed deal would see tenants of these homes offered a portable discount to buy a home on the open market instead, it is believed.
Lord Bob Kerslake, chair of Peabody, told Inside Housing: “[An exemption for historic stock] is definitely in play as far as I’m concerned. I think it’s a big issue – it’s one of the biggest for us.”
Under the deal, housing associations would be required to work with the tenant to find a suitable alternative home to buy. Lord Kerslake suggested Peabody could use some of its newly built homes to meet this need.
Peabody’s board has yet to approve the NHF’s proposal, despite a statement from the G15 group of London landlords - of which it is part - saying all its members backed the deal.
A senior figure at another landlord told Inside Housing it has been “indicated by NHF” that historic stock would be exempt – although the detail on the exemptions was still to be worked through.
The four landlords jointly control 174,000 homes in London and around the country. It is not clear how much of this stock would be exempt under the deal.
Philanthropic roots
- Sir Edward Guinness set up The Guinness Trust in 1890, donating £200,000 to the Trust in London to provide decent and safe homes for working class people.
- William Sutton, a parcel-delivery entrepreneur, donated his fortune to provide ‘model dwellings and houses for occupation by the poor of London and other towns and populous places in England’ on his death in 1900, founding the organisation which eventually became Affinity Sutton.
- In 1862, London-based American banker George Peabody gave an initial £150,000 to a trust to provide housing to ‘ameliorate the condition of the poor and needy of this great metropolis, and to promote their comfort and happiness’. He increased the gift to £500,000 on his death in 1869.
- Southern Housing Group began as the Samuel Lewis Housing Trust in 1901 when Samuel Lewis, an English money lender died and left an endowment of £670,000 to set up a charitable trust to provide housing for the poor. All the donations are worth many millions in modern terms.
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