Housing association withdraws from Essex and puts properties up for sale

The landlord previously tried to sell the Chelmsford properties in the early 2010s when it appointed Colne Housing as managing agents but later retook the sites.

Pam Bhamra, director of resident services at Origin Housing, said: “At Origin, we want our residents to receive the best possible housing management and repairs service, delivered in a way that is easy to access and responsive to local issues.

“Most of our retirement housing is centred in North London and Hertfordshire and this means we feel our services to our residents in the Essex area are not as responsive as they could be.

“So we’ve taken the difficult decision to find another housing association with a larger local presence in Essex to take on the ownership and management of the homes of our 66 residents.

“This will ensure a better local service to residents. Their security and rents will not be affected by this change.”

The sales process is expected to take several months and Origin is inviting other housing associations to express an interest.

Ms Bhamra added: “In the meantime we are speaking to residents to reassure them and answer any queries. Our aim is to ensure the new service provider is able to deliver a high-quality service to residents.”