Category: Housing

Great Places Housing Group asked for the legal support needed to place people in permanent accommodation.

Homelessness is a major challenge for cities up and down the UK. But how should it be addressed? What’s the most effective way to end the vicious cycle that often causes people to be back on the streets?

In 2019, Greater Manchester trialled a new three-year pilot programme to provide permanent accommodation for people with multiple and complex needs who had experienced long-term recurrent periods of homelessness.

With this funding, our client Great Places Housing Group (Great Places) was chosen as the lead provider of the Greater Manchester Housing First partnership who, together with their delivery partners, have supported over 344 people with multiple and complex issues into homes of their own. We supported Great Places by putting together sub-contracts with the delivery partners, and a collaboration agreement drawing together all the parties working with Great Places to deliver the programme.

Negotiating agreements  

Following the successful pilot, Greater Manchester Combined Authority secured further funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to extend the programme into years four, five and six.

As we had supported on the original pilot, Great Places asked us to help negotiate the extension agreement for them and draft the agreements to be entered into between Great Places and their ten delivery partners. 

Safe and secure homes

Securing this additional funding has meant the Greater Manchester Housing First partnership can provide ongoing support for the individuals who are already housed, re-house remaining individuals and take new referrals.

Although the first stage of the pilot focused on helping individuals off the streets, this second stage prioritises their ongoing recovery and reintegration into the community with an emphasis on helping people create networks in their area so they can start the next chapter of their lives.

The numbers

• 344 people cumulatively rehoused
• 234 people rehoused for 6+ months
• 79% tenancy sustainment
• 325 people on the programme

(Stats taken from Greater Manchester Housing First)

Improving lives

Our team was perfectly placed to support Great Places due to our expert understanding of funding for local authorities and housing, and the related grant contracts.

We’re proud to have worked on this life-changing project as we can see the benefit it will have on our local community. It overlaps with the work we do for our health and social care clients who depend on programmes like this.

“In keeping with all our purpose-led commercial work, we are delighted that our input has helped the success of a programme which will benefit many vulnerable individuals and improve lives.”
Mark Cook, partner, Anthony Collins

“Thanks to the legal support of Anthony Collins it enabled Great Places to take on the role of the lead provider for the Greater Manchester Housing First partnership and hold the head contract with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Their help also supported us to work as a partnership developing the required contracting arrangements that has enabled us to work together and help so many homeless people into homes of their own across the region.”
Emily Cole, programme lead, Great Places

Helping the NHF balance the needs of current tenants and maintain affordable homes.

The recent leaps in inflation created huge challenges in the social rented housing sector. Nowhere more so than for shared owners in 200,000 homes part owned with housing associations, whose rents are linked to inflation, which by the end of 2022 was over 11%. On the one hand, government was keen to protect all social housing tenants facing very high, one-off rent increases. On the other, housing associations could see their ability to maintain homes for future tenants badly affected if rental income dropped too low.

Anthony Collins supported the National Housing Federation (NHF) to find a way to balance the needs of current tenants with those of future generations.

Rent cap a threat to financial viability

In August 2022, the Government published a consultation paper to cap housing association 2023 rent increases to 5%. Their own assessment was this would reduce housing association income by £4.9bn over three years for 2.8m homes. For many housing associations, this represented a serious threat to their future financial viability.

And that was before September’s mini-budget which only exacerbated the situation.

While no one wanted to put further pressure on households already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, having no money to invest in housing would put the burden of high energy costs on future tenants further down the line.

A flexible approach protected current and future tenants

Our advice to the NHF identified how housing associations could make a ‘voluntary offer’ to government to cap rent increases at 7% for 200,000 shared owners across the country. At the same time, the government took a similar approach to cap social housing rents at 7%, rather than 5%, which improved the situation by £1.7bn for housing associations nationally.

This compromise struck a balance between protecting existing tenants and leaseholders from very high, one-off rent increases in 2023 and enabling future investment to help tenants to have warm, safe and affordable homes in the future.

“This really was a team effort. Our advice had implications on long-term funding and banking arrangements, vires and charitability, lease variations, estoppel and regulatory guidance. So, as well as our housing management team, we drew on expertise from our funding, property, corporate litigation and governance teams to help make a difference.”
Peter Hubbard, senior partner, Anthony Collins

We have used our combined expertise to help housing providers protect their residents.

The tragedy of Grenfell Tower is something none of us will forget. So how do we prevent a similar incident?

In the years since Grenfell, regulations in this area have had a massive overhaul, leaving social housing providers with complex legislation to navigate and actions to take.

The bigger picture

Since Grenfell, there has been a significant increase in a sector-wide commitment to improving building safety. As part of this shift in attitude, a whole raft of new legislation has been created to address different issues in this area.

For example, the Building Safety Act 2022 imposes a new approach to high-risk properties during the development phase and once they are occupied. Traditionally, assessing building safety risks was siloed, with areas like gas, electric and fire risk scrutinised separately. However, this Act will mean buildings need to be assessed for safety as a whole. The Act also restricts charges for remedial works to service charge payers, either in their entirety or to limit costs charged.

Creating a workbook

What housing providers need to do as a result of this new legislation is complicated, and there is a complex roadmap they need to follow. Over the last couple of years, we have created a workbook, checklists, advice notes and flowcharts to clearly guide our clients through their obligations. These are the result of the combined expertise of our teams across the sector, particularly our regulatory team and housing management team.

Other legalisation like the Fire Safety Act 2021 and Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have also changed the obligations of housing providers. Some obligations only apply when certain criteria are met, such as a building is over 18 metres in height, and these are likely to change over time. We have helped our clients interpret and understand what actions they need to take now to ensure their residents’ safety and what is likely in the future.

Safety is the top priority

All our clients want to make sure they are complying with regulations and that all their properties are safe. Some are surprised when they hear that legislation still hasn’t provided the clarity or the powers that they need, but we’re here to help them get to the point they want to be, their buildings are safe, and they can do it in the most effective way possible.

Throughout 2023 and 2024, there will be follow-up actions housing providers need to take to meet the new laws in place as they come into force. We’ll be here to support our clients throughout the process and help them make vital changes moving forward.

“If we don’t get the advice right that we give to clients, someone might die. We are guiding them to make sure the vulnerable are not exposed to the type of risk that killed so many people in Grenfell Tower.”
Tim Coolican, partner, Anthony Collins

We helped Redditch Borough Council deal with a problem tenant to improve the lives of local residents.   

Redditch Borough Council asked Anthony Collins (AC) for legal advice last year to help tackle the anti-social behaviour of one of their tenants, Gemma*, and her associates.

Gemma had been known to the local police for some time for various criminal activities, including theft, criminal damage and threatening behaviour. She and her associates were causing regular disturbances around her rented home and destroying her neighbours’ quality of life.

As a result, the council received several complaints regarding loud verbal and physical assaults together with reported incidents of targeted racial abuse. Gemma had been given a community protection notice by the police, but this hadn’t made any difference and she was sent to prison.

Using the right legal tools 

Although Gemma was the only person on the tenancy agreement, her associates continued to visit her home in her absence, breaking in, causing damage and behaving in an anti-social way.

Registered providers of social housing normally use injunction orders to tackle this sort of anti-social behaviour at their properties. But for these injunctions to work the provider must know the identity of all the people they want to exclude. In this case, Gemma had a wide network of associates, many of whom were not known to the landlord, so an injunction order wasn’t appropriate for this situation.

An immediate and long-term solution  

The council needed to tackle the anti-social behaviour of Gemma’s visitors and stop their property from being permanently damaged.       

Our housing law experts recommended the council apply for a closure order that would restrict anyone apart from Gemma from being able to access the property. Closure orders are relatively rare and only available to local authority landlords and the police. They’re used as a temporary measure but are highly successful in combatting serious or prolonged incidents of anti-social behaviour.

This was the first such order Redditch Council had ever applied for and, with our guidance, they were granted it at the first hearing. The order also gave the community some much-needed breathing space while the associated possession claim was heard.

“This was a complex and sensitive case involving many aspects of high-level anti-social behaviour. Anthony Collins was pivotal in discussing a range of options with us to bring peace to a community which had been suffering such behaviour over a sustained period.”
Jonathan Elger, council officer. 

Giving a clear message

The closure order was breached by one of Gemma’s associates who broke into the property. But, under the terms of the order, they were arrested and removed from the property. This gave a powerful message to Gemma and her associates that action would be taken. It also provided reassurance to the local community.

Gemma was able to return to the property when she came out of prison but was later evicted and the council were granted possession of the property.  

At a time when demand for social housing outstrips supply, our approach meant the council was able to re-let the property to someone in social need who would not misuse it. And Gemma’s neighbours could live in an environment free of intimidation, harassment and distress.

“A great example of clear and guided decision making between the Neighbourhood and Tenancy Team and Anthony Collins that led to successful court outcomes and the community feeling safe in their homes again.”
Jonathan Elger, council officer.

“Our broad knowledge of the enforcement options available to landlords like local authorities, including the more uncommon ones, enabled us to put quick and effective protection in place which wouldn’t have been possible with injunctions.”  
Rebecca Sembuuze, associate, Anthony Collins   

*Tenant’s name has been changed.

The Abbeyfield Society wanted to change how their organisation worked, so they asked us to step in and create a new structure.

When the Regulator of Social Housing raised concerns around their structure, The Abbeyfield Society knew it was time to reassess how the organisation functioned and how they could best focus on providing care and accommodation for older people, as well as supporting their membership societies in the UK and beyond.

Acting as a membership federation, and at the same time looking after lots of homes for older and vulnerable residents, meant that the Abbeyfield Society was constantly being pulled in different directions. With many local membership societies typically running one house with 12 to 15 residents, and reliant on the society for services, there were important questions to address around whether the Abbeyfield Society saw itself as a membership organisation or a housing provider.

Creating a new structure

With a recommendation to separate the two parts of their charity, they asked us to help create two new organisations. First, a new membership body for local Abbeyfield societies in this country – Abbeyfield England. Secondly, the Abbeyfield World Council, who would be responsible for the brand worldwide.

We helped with the entire process, from drafting documents to deciding the new structure and addressing issues encountered along the way. Some members expressed legitimate concerns, so we had to advise on the issues that they raised and take them into account while moving forward.

Perfectly placed

Anthony Collins (AC) was uniquely well-placed to take on this challenge. We have extensive expertise in social housing, meaning we understand the regulator’s concerns and the challenges housing associations are currently facing. Our team also undertakes a lot of work for large membership organisations that harnesses the value of wider ownership arrangements.

Our expertise in governance was also key to the success of this work. We were able to advise on everything involved in setting up the organisations and registering with the Charity Commission, as well as helping advise who is best placed to make decisions and how to distribute decision-making across the organisations.

“Abbeyfield can now concentrate on its residents’ needs and act as a landlord. Members are now supported by Abbeyfield England which has its own board, and can focus on taking matters forward for local Abbeyfield societies.”
David Alcock, partner, Anthony Collins

We created a legal framework to support Frontier Development Capital’s ‘Help To Own’ scheme.

Getting onto the property ladder is a great source of pride for many. It’s also a means of creating long-term wealth for families and individuals. But for a significant proportion of the population, it’s not that simple.

 

Demand for housing far outweighs supply in many parts of the country, and the subsequent increase in long-term prices means that those on low incomes struggle to save enough for a deposit.

 

Market renting to homeownership

This is the problem Frontier Development Capital (FDC) is trying to solve. The company created a financial model that provides a pathway to homeownership through market renting and set up NewCo My Generation Group Limited (MGM) to support the delivery of the scheme.

 

‘Help To Own’ allows tenants to rent a property over the long term. After 25 years of renting, they can purchase the freehold for £1. MGM instructed us to create a legal framework to bring ‘Help To Own’ to fruition.

 

“Help to Own is a unique concept that sits between traditional tenancy and intermediate homeownership models. Working with MGM, we identified the different obligations the parties had to each other and then worked through the legal challenges to make those obligations enforceable.”
Jonathan Cox, partner, Anthony Collins Solicitors

 

Creating the right framework

ACS put together a legal framework that identified what the blockers were and found ways to work around them. The final framework contained key features such as:

• No-rent deposit
• A Loyalty Premium which links to rental increases which can be taken as cashback/rebate if the tenant decides to leave the scheme, or use to extend the initial tenancy
• The option for tenants to leave at any time giving three months’ notice

 

HTO2 LLP was formed as a joint venture between the West Midlands Combined Authority and Wolverhampton City Council, who purchased 100 brand new homes at The Marches, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton. The homes were a mix of 29 x 2 beds, 50 x 3 beds and 21 x 4 beds reflecting the needs of the community.

 

“If you factor in that you require at least a 10% deposit and an excellent credit rating to get a mortgage … then you’ll understand how good this ‘Help To Own’ scheme is. This is a good scheme and it’s non-binding, unlike a mortgage. Buying and owning a house isn’t cheap but this scheme is giving certain individuals a helping hand”.
Facebook comment

 

Insatiable demand

A ‘Help To Own’ website was created through which applicants could apply. Applicants went through a strict process to ensure that only those who could not raise a deposit were considered for homes.

 

Over 4,000 people registered their interest in the scheme, with 563 applications submitted for the 100 tenancies available. Offers were granted and the profile of successful applicants revealed the reality of the problem: 37% were key workers, 75% were joint applicants, the average age was 34-39 years old, and the average household net income was just under £38k.

 

“ACS’ in-depth knowledge of housing law was truly invaluable to us. ACS recognised the potential impact HTO could have for people who are otherwise trapped in market renting; for them, HTO is life-changing. We are indebted to ACS for the advice we received, as well as the work undertaken to navigate the complexities of the scheme and reflect them in both the lease and loyalty premium agreements which we now use on each and every plot at our pilot site.”

Chrissy McKenzie, head of operations, Help to Own

When two tenants went on a rampage, we stepped in to support Cottsway Housing Association.

From advising landlords to possession proceedings, the immediate impact of our work in housing litigation is obvious. However, the difference our team make to the wider community is often overlooked.

 

Cottsway Housing Association is a housing association with homes across West Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire. Last year, the Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) team were instructed to provide support with two problem tenants in Chipping Norton.

 

Shouting, screaming and swearing

Members of a large extended family, including two sisters, living within a few streets of each other were causing significant issues in the local area. This came to a head one night when the family went on what neighbours and the police called a ‘rampage’.

 

They were on the streets shouting, screaming and swearing, throwing items at houses, ripping up fences, setting fires and threatening anyone who got in their way. One neighbour was even assaulted. Of course, this left the local community feeling shaken up and concerned for their safety.

 

Emergency exclusion orders

Cottsway and the police gathered statements from local residents. However, they were all too afraid of the repercussions if they provided evidence. It was at this point that the ACS team swiftly stepped in to provide support, advising on the evidence and drafting a witness statement for the housing officer to provide the neighbours’ anonymous evidence.

 

“Rebecca Sembuuze had a firm grasp of the case within hours of receiving the information even though it related to four different defendants and many witness statements regarding various events plus many more documents.”
Client instructing officer

 

The ACS team worked to secure emergency without notice injunctions which included exclusion orders. These prevented the tenants and some of their wider family members from visiting each other’s homes and passing over certain parts of the estate.

 

A solution for everyone

Some members of the family didn’t resist these orders. However, the two tenant sisters defended. The team worked with the tenants’ solicitors to agree an order that had certain concessions, such as allowing the tenants to be together in each other’s homes for clearly defined and limited times each day for childcare purposes.

 

By achieving this, Cottsway avoided unnecessary litigation but still secured an outcome that worked for everyone. It also meant no one had to go through the stressful process of giving evidence at trial.

 

“Most importantly is Rebecca’s commitment to achieving the outcome we wanted and the investment of thought to achieve this. There is no sense of just going through the motions but rather a strong commitment to achieving the right outcome based on the evidence.”
Client instructing officer

 

Taking a pragmatic approach

Liaising with the local police and councillors, the housing litigation team prepared a letter to the community explaining the outcome. After distributing this, there were no objections raised and the local community was left feeling reassured.

 

By responding quickly and creating an open dialogue, the issues were resolved positively for both the client and the wider community.

 

“We have the technical skills and knowledge, as well as a pragmatic approach, to be able to respond to concerns for safety in the community very quickly, provide positive results and help our clients retain a good relationship with their communities.”
Rebecca Sembuuze, associate, Anthony Collins Solicitors

We restructured the Connexus Group to help it achieve its core objective of serving its tenants well.

Housing associations are an essential part of the UK housing market, providing affordable homes to tenants up and down the country. Connexus Group, a community-focused rural housing group, serves residents in the counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire.

 

In 2017, Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) helped create the Connexus Group by joining together a number of housing associations. In total, the housing associations owned 10,500 homes.

 

However, after establishing the Group, it was clear the number of housing associations within the Group should be streamlined to deliver a better service. And, in April 2021, we created Connexus Homes, merging four of the Group’s housing associations into one single stock owning housing association.

 

“We knew that Connexus Group would need to revisit their new structure to simplify it, reduce running costs, lower borrowing costs, and give the organisation greater flexibility.”
Peter Hubbard, senior partner, Anthony Collins Solicitors

 

Removing complexity to ensure service delivery

The goal of this restructure was to cut out unnecessary complexity and financial wastage to enable Connexus Group to continue delivering an excellent and effective service to clients.

 

Over an eight-month period, Catherine Simpson, senior associate in the governance and commercial team, led 25 ACS advisors across five different teams in delivering the work on the merger. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the teams worked seamlessly together, bringing the best of ACS’ legal expertise and corporate values to serve Connexus Group.

 

“People worked really well together on this project which is testament to the collegiate atmosphere at Anthony Collins Solicitors. If you asked people for help, they offered it. In the end, things that could’ve been challenging just weren’t as everyone had the sole focus of completing the project on time.”
Catherine Simpson, senior associate, Anthony Collins Solicitors

 

Value-for-money savings

The project scope of works included,

• Advising on the transfer of engagements of three of the Group housing associations into one association;
• Winding down some of Connexus Group’s commercial companies;
• Offering employment and pensions advice on the transfer of employees from the original four housing associations into Connexus Homes;
• Renegotiating and refinancing £130m of existing loans, and
• Advising on all the ongoing litigation to ensure that Connexus Homes could step into the shoes of all the different housing litigation matters.

 

The merger of the associations has allowed the Connexus Group to continue delivering a better service to residents, increase the number of new homes they build each year, and to provide greater support to local community organisations such as the Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service. On top of that, the group announced an annual value-for-money saving of £880k.

 

“The completion of the corporate restructure means we can continue our work of delivering affordable housing and providing services with even more efficiency. Our focus, though, remains the same: the provision of high-quality affordable homes to Herefordshire and Shropshire through the development of new homes and investment in our existing homes.”
Richard Woolley, CEO, Connexus Group

We helped Frontier Development Capital to create a legal framework to create a pathway to homeownership through market renting.

With the cost of a new home ever-increasing, and rents rising, affordability has fallen to an all-time low. The biggest barrier to homeownership is the inability to save for a deposit. Frontier Development Capital (FDC), debt and funding advisers, created a financial model where tenants could rent a property over the long term and after 25 years of renting purchase the freehold for £1. FDC wanted to create a pathway to homeownership through market renting and called it ‘Help to Own’ (HTO). FDC instructed Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) to create a legal framework to bring HTO to fruition.

What Anthony Collins Solicitors did to help support our client

The model contains multiple facets:

• No rent deposit.
• Tenants build a Loyalty Premium linked to rental increase which can be taken as cashback/rebate when leaving the scheme or used to extend initial tenancy ultimately leading to being able to purchase their home for £1.
• Tenants can leave at any time on three months’ notice; if they do leave ‘early’ they take with them the accrued value of their Loyalty Premium.
• Tenants must maintain the home as their own.

The legal framework needed options and tenancy arrangements that reflected the financial model. HTO is a unique concept that sits between traditional tenancy and intermediate homeownership models. Working with FDC we identified the different obligations the parties had to each other and then worked through the legal challenges to make those obligations enforceable.

“ACS’ in-depth knowledge of housing law was truly invaluable to us. We recognised that like us the people at ACS recognised the impact HTO would have for people who are otherwise trapped in market renting; for them HTO is life changing and we are indebted to ACS for the advice we received.”

Sam Miller, commercial director – new propositions, Frontier Development Capital

Social impact

FDC formed HTO2 LLP, a joint venture between the pension funds of the West Midlands Combined Authority and Wolverhampton City Council, who purchased 100 brand new homes at The Marches, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton. The homes were a mix of 29 x 2 bed, 50 x 3 bed and 21 x 4 bed reflecting the needs of the community. A help to own website was created through which applicants could apply. Those applicants went through a strict process to ensure that only applicants who could not raise a deposit were able to apply. Over 2,000 people applied for the 100 tenancies available.

Social media reflected the excitement around this unique scheme:

“If you factor in that you require at least a 10% deposit and an excellent credit rating to get a mortgage…then you’ll understand how good this (HTO) scheme is. This is a good scheme and it’s none binding unlike a mortgage. Buying and owning a house isn’t cheap but this scheme is giving certain individuals a helping hand.”

Facebook comment

Fund management business FDC launched NewCo My Generation Group Limited to support delivery of the scheme.

We helped Livv Housing Group focus on social housing and secure loans to add 1,200 homes for their community.

At the heart of First Ark Group’s business was a 13,500 property housing association. Committed to social purpose on a wider scale, the North West group had diversified into a range of commercial, development and community support services. But, in diversifying, the group failed to secure its social housing role and was found non-compliant by the regulator.

With six separate boards, numerous committees and a large number of non-executives, it was clear that the group had become unnecessarily complex and lost sight of its core business. It was time to simplify.

A streamlined structure

We were asked by incoming CEO, Leann Hearne, to review the group’s options as part of a rebrand to Livv Housing Group. We helped them deliver a streamlined structure as a single registered provider parent company with a focus on delivering its core role and we closed down surplus group companies.

As well as drafting the new rules, we revised the intra-group agreement and services arrangements and oversaw the refresh of board memberships. As part of the transition, we helped rationalise the number of non-exec roles and negotiate with the trade unions responsible for some 550 employees.

By being clear and straightforward at every step we were able to reassure people that this would help them deliver the best outcome for their tenants – the community that depend on them for high-quality social housing.

Finally, we supported the Group with tenant and contractor notifications before the successful launch on 1 April 2020 as Livv Housing Group – just in time to meet the increased challenges of Covid-19 and the national lockdown.

Looking to the future

The rebrand also saw the launch of a new corporate plan in April. This involves developing 400 homes annually over the next three years, with around 85% expected to be affordable rent.

By streamlining the business, Livv were able to reassure the lenders providing £210 million of funding on the group’s ability to deliver their commitments. And in October 2020, the regulator upgraded the group’s compliance rating which is key for securing further grant funding for Livv’s development programme.