Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to
approve:
 

1.    
The purchase by the
Housing Revenue Account (HRA) of private sale homes on the 92
Leyton Green Project at a purchase price of
£8.675m. 

2.    
The change in tenure of
up to 20 of the 34 remaining flats made up of a mix of 1-, 2- and
3-bedroom flats from private sale to shared
ownership. 

3.     
Delegate authority to
the Commercial Director of Property and Delivery to dispose of the
20 shared ownership units on the open
market. 
 

Content

Cabinet:

 
(1)          
agreed the purchase by the Housing Revenue Account
(HRA) of 17 private sale homes on the 92 Leyton Green Project at a
purchase price of £6.755m;

 
(2)          
agreed the change in tenure of 17 of the 30
remaining flats made up of a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom flats from
private sale to shared ownership;

 
(3)          
delegated authority to the Commercial Director of
Property and Delivery to dispose of the 17 shared ownership units
on the open market; and

 
(4)          
noted the impact on the business
case and the impact of voids on the Children’s service
revenue budget.
 

2.           
OPTIONS & ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED

 
The
following options were considered:
 

a)   
Not taking any action – the
project would incur significant revenue costs to the
Children’s Service revenue budget through the remaining void
properties and there would be a delay in the receipt of capital
sales. The project would remain 100% private sale without any
affordable housing. The sales forecast would be slower than shared
ownership, at 1 every 2 months. 

 

b)   
Market overseas – this proposal does not align
with the Council’s aims with building homes for those who
live and/or work in Waltham Forest. Research into this option
showed that it would also require increased spending on sales and
marketing fees.
 

c)   
Sell to the HRA for Social Rent
– this option was financially not viable as it did not meet
the business case outcomes for required for the HRA and will also
lead the scheme to fall foul of the Consumer Protection From Unfair
Trading Regulations 2008 in terms of the previous advertising of
the scheme as an all-private tenure
scheme. 
 

d)   
Privately rent on the open market
– an option to let the properties through Lettings Waltham
Forest was explored. This option would not have met the business
case requirements as there would only be a short-term revenue
benefit rather than the upfront capital
receipt. 
 
The
options above have been discounted on the basis that they do not
offer the same level of benefits as the preferred option, and/or
they were financially viable.