Written evidence to be reported to the House
Housing and Regeneration Bill
5:30 pm
Nic Bliss: By and large, most of the stock transfer ballots have been run relatively legitimately. The Bill crystallises what is actually done in practice at present. One of the key issues for our three organisations is that we want tenants in communities in this country to be in a much stronger position and to be able to make decisions about their homes and neighbourhoods. That is fundamental to us.
One of the things that is particularly important about the stock transfer ballot is that councils are forced to engage with their tenants during the process, and the resulting organisations have generally been some of the better landlords in this country and have engaged with their tenants. That is the reality of the situation.
One of our concerns is that in changes in the management of housing association tenants—things like mergers between different housing associations—tenants are not in a position to have any say. It would probably be better for them if they were in a position to vote, because landlords would be required to go through a strenuous process to engage with them, which is what happens in the stock transfer process. I am sure there have been some incidents of stock transfer ballots that have not been quite right, but, by and large, the process is relatively robust and is actually very good at engaging with tenants.