Social Housing Governance
Advising Registered Providers (RPs), housing associations and other social housing providers on governance is a core part of our business. On a day to day basis, we help our clients operate within legal and constitutional constraints by preparing policies and procedures so that our clients both understand the background law and are able to apply it to individual circumstances without having to refer to us all the time.
We advise RPs on a wide range of regulatory, corporate and procurement issues including:
- mergers, amalgamations, transfers of engagement and conversions
- charity laws and powers
- corporate group structuring including community benefit society law
- constitutional law
- the establishment of joint ventures
- regulatory advice relating to the Regulator’s Standards and policymaking
- strategic partnerships and national framework arrangements
- best practice and strategy when procuring contracts
- the extent to which the Procurement Regulations impact land and development values
On a broader, strategic basis, we work with our clients in reviewing their structures and compliance not only with legal obligations but also best practice and making amendments to those constitutions and governance arrangements.
On individual projects, our property development and banking lawyers are all familiar with charity law, constitutional and other constraints that affect our clients so that issues are identified before they become a problem, and we provide structural advice at an early stage in projects. This enables us to make recommendations on structural changes where appropriate.
Our governance expertise
We have particular expertise in the constitutional and related financial implications of joint venture arrangements between charitable RPs and developers, especially dealing with the way in which funding is channelled into projects. We have recent experience of this work on behalf of several leading RPs including Notting Hill Genesis, London & Quadrant, Clarion and B3Living.
We also have a particular expertise in mergers and related funding restructures. These range from very small transfers of engagements for perhaps several hundred units to the largest merger to have happened in the sector so far. Our recent experience includes acting for Affinity Sutton Group Limited in merging with Circle Anglia Limited, and acting for Four Housing Group in its merger with Bernicia Housing Group.
Our advice always takes into account the latest industry developments and legal updates and we have a regular dialogue with the National Housing Federation and Regulator for Social Housing to ensure we remain up-to-speed with the latest sector events. We are routinely asked to lead internal workshops for clients which we are pleased to do.