Westmoreland failings do not affect Civitas or TriplePoint – On 20 May 2019 the Regulator for Social Housing issued a judgement on Westmoreland Supported Housing (a Registered Provider that features in both Civitas Social Housing and Triple Point Social Housing’s portfolios). The judgement relates to a number of properties that Westmoreland is responsible for but which the two listed companies do not own.
Judgement
The Regulator’s statement says: “we have concluded that some of [Westmoreland’s] stock does not meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard (DHS). An external review found the properties to be in disrepair and said that they were cold and lacked basic utilities. The referrals raised concerns about the time Westmoreland was taking to address these issues, and Westmoreland has told the regulator that difficulties had arisen in the agreement with the head landlord regarding responsibility for repairs.”…
…”The regulator received information which indicated that Westmoreland had issued eviction notices to a number of tenants in order to vacate a property to allow it to return the lease to the head landlord. A review of this process found that Westmoreland had failed to consult with tenants, failed to provide appropriate advice and assistance, and failed to consider what would happen to tenants during and after the notice period. Westmoreland told the regulator that some tenants had moved on to alternative accommodation after the notices had been issued, but that the outcome for some tenants who moved out is unknown, as some individuals could not be traced. It is now sourcing alternative accommodation for the remaining tenants.”…
…” although Westmoreland has explained that it had notified the local authority before it issued the notices, Westmoreland did not take steps to support tenants to maintain their tenancies, and issued notices to quit rather than considering whether alternative options might be appropriate. Furthermore, the evidence shows that Westmoreland failed to properly take the needs of these potentially vulnerable tenants into account. We have therefore concluded that this is a breach of both the Tenancy standard and the Tenant Involvement & Empowerment standard.”
Comment from Westmoreland
Comment from Civitas
“For clarity, this Judgement is not in relation to any financial matters and relates to properties which are not owned by Civitas, but by other landlords. Accordingly, this Judgement has no effect on any of the properties owned by Civitas and leased to Westmoreland, which continues to meet its obligations to Civitas and to provide high quality homes for tenants whilst producing rental income as expected.”
Comment from Triple Point
“Whilst none of the assets in the portfolio in question are owned by the group, the company notes that Westmoreland is taking steps to address the concerns raised by the Regulator.”
Our tuppeny-worth
“In everything that we have written on the sector, we have stressed the importance of ensuring the welfare of the underlying tenants. It is fair for the two listed companies to point out that the judgement does not apply to their properties and we do not believe that either fund would have allowed this to happen to their underlying tenants. However, it highlights worrying failings at Westmoreland. This is not just an issue of governance but one of common human decency and we would hope that this is not repeated elsewhere.”
CSH / SOHO : Westmoreland failings do not affect Civitas or TriplePoint