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Major housing associations eye 3,000-home stock swap
The Guinness Partnership and Paradigm Housing Group have laid out plans to swap 2,898 homes in a bid to make better use of their estate portfolios.
The plans would see Guinness take 1,290 homes from Paradigm in the London boroughs of Hillingdon and Hounslow, with Paradigm taking on ownership of 1,608 of Guinness’ homes predominantly in Wycombe, Welwyn Hatfield and Milton Keynes.
Residents of both associations have been informed of the proposals, with a consultation on the plans to be launched later this year.
In a joint statement, the two housing associations said the proposal would reflect the strategic decisions by both Paradigm and Guinness to focus future growth on their core areas of operation. The two associations also said that the new mix of homes would offer “the very best services to our residents”.
It said: “There are some areas where the historic growth of Paradigm and Guinness has led to the two organisations managing different parts of the same estate.
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“The stock swap aims to address these inconsistencies. Guinness will continue to have a significant presence in Milton Keynes, and Paradigm in London. Overall both organisations will have a more coherent footprint.”
The plans are understood to be at the early stages and the final number of homes has not been fully fixed.
A spokesperson for Guinness said: “We have been informally discussing the potential benefits for our respective organisations and customers over recent months. This announcement reflects our decision that we should take the negotiation to a more formal stage.
“If the swap goes ahead, both organisations will be able to deliver services which offer better value for money. We both have a good reputation for customer service and a strong record of looking after our homes and will continue to deliver this.
“If we take our plans forward, we will set out for residents how we propose to consult and take account of their views in the decision-making later in the process, including when we have gone through the initial stages of due diligence to confirm which properties (and residents) will or won’t be affected.”
Stock swaps are common among housing associations looking to rationalise how many homes they have per local authority area. In 2015 Magna Housing and Spectrum Housing (which was acquired by Sovereign in November 2016) traded the ownership and management of 800 homes between them in a bid to make better use of their own property portfolios.
Any consultation by Guinness and Paradigm will abide by the Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard.
