Sanctuary makes offer to 'struggling' landlords

Sanctuary’s accounts for 2015/16 show a surplus of £52.7m, a rise of 8.7% on last year’s figure of £48.5m, from revenue of £669m.

In the statement, David Bennett, chief executive of Sanctuary, said it has proven “time and again” that it can “help struggling organisations”.

He said: “Sanctuary remains in a strong position but we recognise some in the sector will find the changing climate difficult.

“I am sure there will be businesses looking for opportunities to become more financially and operationally efficient, and Sanctuary will be looking to work with other organisations to deliver better value.”

The 100,000-home landlord took over Cosmopolitan Housing Group in 2013 after it hit severe financial difficulties.

However, last month a proposed merger with 19,000-home Housing & Care 21 fell apart due to “cultural differences”.  It was also one of several organisations to reject the National Housing Federation’s proposed ‘merger code’.

The rise in surplus is relatively modest compared to large London-based organisations which have released results over the last month, but Sanctuary derives a much smaller share of its income from open market sales.  

The results show £397.9m came from social housing lettings, with shared ownership sales raising £28.2m, care homes £108.7m and student accommodation £60.6m.

The organisation now owns 100,160 homes, up from 98,900 last year, of which 83,700 are classed as social and affordable housing.

Its in-house repairs service Sanctuary Maintenance completed 80% of repairs, with the average cost of repair per property falling 11% to £324 in the year.

The association had a healthy operating margin – the percentage of cash left after operating costs – of 30.1%, up from 28.9% last year.

It built 1,414 homes of all tenures during the year – the third-most in the sector.