You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Sector heavyweights on standby as regulator unveils new list of statutory managers
Former housing association chief executives are among those who have been lined up to be appointed as statutory managers at troubled Scottish landlords.
Seven new industry executives have been added to the Scottish Housing Regulator’s updated list of statutory managers, which was published yesterday.
The managers can be appointed when the regulator judges it is the “most proportionate way to tackle identified risks and protect the interests of tenants and other service users”.
The new additions include Alison Hadden, former chief executive of 15,000-home Paradigm. Ms Hadden, who is also chair of 18,000-home Housing Plus Group, stepped in earlier this year at West Midlands-based Trinity Housing Association after the English regulator said it was “putting tenants at risk”.
READ MORE
The list also includes Geraldine Kay, who was previously chief executive of 7,000-home association Derwentside Homes.
Carole Oatway, chief executive of the government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, is also new to the list. She has previously spent seven years as the director of regulation and inspection for social landlords in Scotland.
The Scottish Housing Regulator previously had a list of nine statutory managers, who were appointed in 2016. Six have stepped down while three have been retained.
The three who remained are: Margaret Lightbody, who has stepped in as a statutory manger at Wishaw & District Housing Association, Fairfield Housing Co-operative and Dalmuir Park Housing Association; John Mulholland, who intervened at Kincardine Housing Co-operative two years ago because of “serious and urgent risks to the delivery of services to tenants”; and Paul Rydquist, who stepped in at Ferguslie Park Housing Association in 2016 after “serious weaknesses” in the landlord’s governance and management of finances were found.
Michael Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Housing Regulator, said: “Tenants, other service users and stakeholders need to have confidence that we will intervene when we need to when it is the right thing to do. We appoint a statutory manager to a social landlord in the most serious circumstances only.
“Each person on the list has the experience, skills and knowledge required for the role. We developed the list with a clear and appropriate balance on quality and cost.”
