Louis Robert made a compelling – and entertaining – case for a level playing field for registered social landlords and developers competing for grant (HT 8 October, page 38).

It put me in mind of another little wrinkle that should perhaps be ironed out in the name of fair competition. Under section 2 of the Housing Act 1996, RSLs that are industrial and provident societies or non-charitable companies are not allowed to develop new-build housing in order to sell it on.

It will probably only be oldies like me who remember that the reason this provision appeared in the first place, in the Housing Associations Act 1985, was because the government of the day bowed to pressure from developers who were fearful of unfair competition. Of course, removing the restriction won’t actually make that much difference to the vast majority of charitable RSLs because of tax issues but I couldn’t resist sharing the irony.

And hey, perhaps we’re looking at this through the wrong end of the telescope: what’s to stop RSLs setting up their own companies to bid for developers’ grant?

Even if the Housing Corporation decides it doesn’t have to abide by the EU procurement regulations in dishing it out, it still has to be fair and transparent in its dealings and it will be interesting to see what barriers might be erected 20 years down the line to protect developers from yet more “unfair'” competition from RSLs. Now that would be an irony.

Lynne Murray, partner Lewis Silkin Solicitors

Source

Housing Today