Uncertainty over rent reform has led to delays in the next round of the stock transfer programme
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions had intended to announce which councils wanted to transfer in on the 2001/2 programme in March next year but this has been put back by at least a month.

A DETR spokesman said the programme would now be announced in "late April". He told Housing Today: "This is because of the housing Green Paper and waiting for the consultation period to close. And within the Green Paper the issue of rent restructuring was also a factor contributing towards the delay."

Councils wanting to register their interest in a place on the 2002/2003 programme will have to apply in December, three months later than last year. Councils' final submissions are to be made in February 2001.

Bradford, Sheffield and Southwark councils' are all considering applying for a place on the 2001/2002 programme. If each council receives a place, the number of unit for those three councils alone would be 140,000. This compares with the 14 councils on this year's programme which have won approval from tenants so far to transfer a total of 88,760 units.

Bradford council's principle officer for strategy Robin Hodgings said: "We have been given council approval to register with the DETR for transfer in case a report being done by Hacas Chapman Hendy on stock options recommends this." The council has 26,500 units.

Janet Parry, Sheffield Council's manager of the future of council housing project team, said transfer was one of the options the council was considering for its 63,500 stock. She said: "We are waiting for further information from the government on rents and arm's length companies before we make a decision."

Southwark council director of housing Michael Irvine said they were considering applying to transfer its entire stock of around 50,00 homes over two years from 2001-2003. He said: "We are waiting for council approval and should know by next week."

Peter Chapman, director of Hacas Chapman Hendy, said: "A lot of authorities are waiting to make a final decision on rents for their [stock] evaluations and will then decide if they should apply for the programme."

Source

Housing Today