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Housing associations abandon plans for 43,000-home merger
PA Housing and Accent Group have abandoned plans for a merger that would have created a 43,000-home landlord.
The merger proposition, announced in March, will not progress to the due diligence stage according to a stock market update this morning.
An announcement from Accent said: “Whilst disappointing in terms of the opportunity this partnership would have presented, the focus for Accent will remain on delivering high quality homes and services to our customers and communities.
“We will continue to focus on driving our ambitious corporate strategy harnessing positive and progressive partnerships where they enhance Accent’s already resilient business to do more for our customers.”
A similar announcement by PA also said it intends to focus on the delivery of its corporate plan objectives.
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Regulatory judgements: housing association rated non-compliant after being investigated by regulatorToday’s announcement follows a similar breakdown in talks between Southern Housing and Sanctuary, which would have created the country’s largest social landlord with 130,000 homes.
Last month, housing with care specialist Accord successfully completed a merger with GreenSquare to create a new 25,000-home landlord GreenSquareAccord.
Dilip Kavi, chief executive of PA Housing, previously told Inside Housing that the Accent merger plans would focus on delivering faster service improvements.
The proposed merger would have formed one of the largest housing associations in the country, combining PA’s 23,000 homes in London, Surrey and the Midlands with Accent’s 20,000 homes in the North, the Midlands and the South East.
Both PA Housing and Accent Group have the highest possible G1/V1 grading for governance and financial viability from the Regulator of Social Housing.
Since its formation through a merger between Paragon Community Housing and Asra Housing Group in 2017, PA has been working through historical issues with some of its stock, particularly in London.
In 2019 it moved the management and delivery of its repairs service for homes in the capital from the Midlands to the South East.
It also underwent a recent overhaul of its complaints system following a review by the resident scrutiny group, and is transitioning from the use of call centres to a system using specialised hubs within its operational teams.
In March, Accent completed a 284-home stock transfer of specialist supported housing to Sanctuary Supported Living, with executives conceding that it had become “difficult for us to provide that quality of service our residents deserve”. The group said it was in the interest of residents to transfer the stock to a more specialist organisation with access to funding and services.
Update at 11:45am, 24.05.21: Story edited to clarify the reasons behind Accent’s stock transfer to Sanctuary.
