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Landlords encouraged to speak to RSH about potential merger opportunities
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has been speaking to a “wider range” of social landlords looking to merge over last few years, and encouraged associations to get in touch about potential opportunities.
Landlords encouraged to speak to RSH about potential merger opportunities #UKhousingWill Perry, director of strategy at the RSH, told delegates that the RSH has sometimes been approached “quite aggressively” about potential merger opportunities.
Mr Perry explained that increasing numbers of landlords are becoming interested in opportunities in their region, to which he said “please come and talk to us”, before explaining what those conversations look like.
He made the comments at the National Housing Federation’s Treasury in Housing conference in London last week.
After jokingly responding “no comment”, he said the English regulator has a “regular dialogue” with organisations they think they may need to call on at some point.
“It’s been interesting over the last few years that we have been having that conversation with a wider range of organisations.
“And that we have been asked, sometimes quite aggressively, ‘why we weren’t considered for this fantastic opportunity’.
“So a wider range of organisations are coming and talking to us and saying, ‘OK, maybe we’re not able to just sweep anything in and absorb it [landlord], which is the advantage of some of the very, very large organisations.’”
Mr Perry encouraged attendees to “come and talk to us” if an opportunity develops in their region, as it might be a better outcome for two regional landlords to merge, instead of joining with a large national association.
He added: “So we’re having that conversation more.” Talks centre on the landlord’s capacity, limits and what they can take on, he said.
He said: “That conversation is about, what’s your capacity? What are your limits? Do you have that fit? Could you take this on?”
But while the regulator does keep a “taxi rank” of organisations it can call upon, Mr Perry stressed that the RSH’s involvement in these mergers is “very rare”, stating: “The number of times we’ve actually stepped in to facilitate a merger, rather than organisations coming to the conclusion that they can’t carry on on their own and looking for a safe harbour, is very small.”
Though he then admitted: “We may, in the background, be suggesting to some organisations that they might think about their life choices... but that’s a different conversation.”
The meeting came a week after news that housing association Abri had taken a hit to its operating margin of nearly a third after taking on non-compliant landlord Octavia, which it said was mainly due to spending on Octavia’s homes.
Speaking about the rescue on the panel, Vimal Gaglani, director of treasury and finance at Abri, highlighted that the organisation represented less than 10% of the group, but took “probably about 90% of our time”, because of the issues they had.
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