Issue - meetings

[ Report of the Director for Housing, Regeneration and Planning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal.]

Cabinet approval will be sought for a suite of measures to optimise the rehousing options for Love Lane Estate residents at 500 White Hart Lane, including consultation on a draft Local Lettings Plan and authority to enter into equity loan agreements with leaseholders.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration introduced the report which offered Love Lane resident leaseholders the opportunity to acquire a property on 500 White Hart Lane site with a reduced equity requirement. This allowed the Council to maximise rehousing options for leaseholders and directly deal with affordability concerns.

The Cabinet Member reiterated that the Council was committed to working with leaseholders to identify rehousing solutions that met their needs. The Council understood that Love Lane Estate leaseholders had concerns about their current and future homes and faced some difficult decisions about whether to stay in the area or purchase a new home now outside of the Estate. The Council also understood that no two households were the same and each household would have different needs and varying financial positions.

It was noted that the Cabinet had made a decision in March 2020 to agree a new High Road West leaseholder offer for consultation with leaseholders, which proposed an enhanced equity loan for new properties within the High Road West Scheme. It was noted that it was also for these reasons, that the attached report sought authority to offer Love Lane resident leaseholders shared equity loans with a lower threshold requirement at 500 White Hart Lane.

Further to considering a response to the leaseholder’s concerns at item 24 and exempt information at item 25,

RESOLVED

1. To agree that the intermediate properties at 500 White Hart Lane be offered for sale to the resident leaseholders on the Love Lane Estate who wish to sell their property to the Council: and

2. To give delegated authority to the Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning and the Director of Finance to agree any individual equity loans to those resident leaseholders subject to:

a)            the resident leaseholder contributing the full market value of their 

current home plus home loss payment where this is possible; and

b)            the equity requirement to qualify for a Portable Equity Loan be

within the agreed cost envelope set out in the EXEMPT report which permits equity amounts below the 60% level.

3. To give delegated authority to the Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning to agree, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal, the marketing strategy for any intermediate properties at 500 White Hart Lane, that are not acquired by Love Lane resident leaseholders and to dispose of these properties in accordance with that strategy.

Reasons for decision

 The reason for this decision is to ensure that the Council can keep its commitments to resident leaseholders on the Love Lane Estate, to maximise their rehousing choice and provide affordable rehousing options.

As described in paragraph 6.9 below, the Council’s Estate Renewal Rehousing and Payments Policy (the ERRPP) sets out the Council’s minimum commitments to residents affected by regeneration schemes. For resident leaseholders it details the arrangements of equity loans, which aim to help them acquire new homes by providing additional finance, which is only repayable upon the subsequent sale of the property or the death of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 290