Purpose

This report seeks the Corporate
Director of Resources & S151 Officer’s approval to
acquire an Ex-Right to Buy property, 55 Gatestone Court, Gatestone
Road, Upper Norwood, London, SE19 1BL
 
The property is a second floor
2-bedroom flat. It meets the requirements of the Property Purchase
Project, to acquire ex-Right to Buy and Private Street properties
in the London Borough of Croydon. The project’s objective is
to acquire a minimum of 300 (2, 3, and 4+ bedroom) properties over
a 3-year period 2024-2027.
 
This will enable the Council to
meet the corporate priority to increase the supply of Temporary
Accommodation, provide decant properties for Regina Road tenants
and replacement properties for tenants occupying the Croylease
(PRS) scheme.
 

Content

For the reasons set out in the
report and its appendices, the Corporate Director of Resources
& S151 Officer AGREED to:
 
Purchase of 55 Gatestone,
Gatestone Road, Upper Norwood, SE19 1BL on the terms detailed in
the Part B report.
 

Reasons for the decision

The property was acquired by
the seller under the Right to Buy scheme on 21st October 2019 and
has been offered back to the Council for consideration under the 10
year Right of First Refusal covenant.
 
The Council has a significant
Housing supply challenge, we currently have 3,600 families in
Temporary Accommodation (TA) and 3,100 agreed on the housing
register.
 
The Council has previously
relied on the housing association sector to increase supply but the
rate of new supply of affordable homes within the borough has
declined significantly and there are significant constraints in
accessing suitable accommodation in the private sector.
 
Financial savings achievable by
reducing the demand on temporary and emergency housing, the current
average cost to the Council for every TA placement is circa
£8,000 per year.
 

Alternative options considered

The Council has already
considered and entered a number of different housing solutions to
address the need for temporary and emergency accommodation and
continues to review options.
 
These have included taking long
leases, typically for 40 years with rents below Local Housing
Allowance levels but subject to RPI increases. At the end of the 40
years the Council can acquire the properties for £1. These
schemes have a future place in providing this type of accommodation
but do not offer the overall flexibility that straight purchase of
homes has to offer.