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Large housing association snaps up nearly 800 homes from L&Q
Southern Housing has boosted its presence in Surrey by snapping up 794 homes from L&Q.
Southern Housing has boosted its presence in Surrey by snapping up 794 homes from L&Q #UKhousingThe stock acquisition is the first for Southern since its high-profile merger completed with Optivo at the tail end of last year.
The 77,000-home landlord will now see more homes added to its portfolio, located across eight local councils including Guildford, Mole Valley, Runnymede, Reigate and Banstead, and Surrey Heath.
The transfer will be completed in two stages, with 694 homes transferring in January and the rest in March.
Last March Southern Housing Group acquired 803 homes in Surrey and West Sussex, also from L&Q.
Richard White, executive director of development and sales at Southern, said: “We are thrilled to have successfully completed a stock acquisition of this scale during what is an exciting time for Southern Housing.
“It provides a timely boost for the new organisation and represents our forward-looking approach to being a strong, well-resourced local provider of homes.”
Last year’s tie-up, which took nine months to broker, saw 32,000-home Southern join forces with larger 45,000-home organisation Optivo.
In an interview with Inside Housing last year, the new association’s chief executive Paul Hackett said that Southern was now the largest housing association in Kent and Sussex and one of the biggest in London, with more than 33,000 homes in the capital alone.
Rather than geographical expansion, Mr Hackett said the merger was driven by a desire to work together on the challenges facing the social housing sector, including inflation, building safety and decarbonisation.
Law firm Devonshires acted for Southern in the deal.
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