Social housing lettings drive increased turnover at LiveWest

This was due to fewer open market property sales, which were down £20m year on year “as contractors delayed starting schemes due to a slower housing market”. However, first-tranche shared ownership sales increased by £2m.

Operating surplus was up, rising from £76m in 2022-23 to £83m. LiveWest said its surplus on asset disposals was consistent with the 2022-23 figure of £16m, made up of £11m from properties that failed to meet the landlord’s strategic objectives and £5m from shared ownership staircasing.

Inflation and higher maintenance costs prompted an increase in operating costs for its social homes, which rose over the year by £14m to £170m.

The average cost per property increased by 12.2%, to £2,713, compared with 2022-23, due to “high volumes of repairs and continued investment into components, building safety and energy efficiency”.

LiveWest’s operating margin improved slightly, rising from 20% to 22%. Its EBITDA MRI (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, major repairs included) interest cover dropped from 207% to 180%.

It said that although its development programme was below target in 2023-24 due to delayed starts, it remained “ambitious”, with plans to deliver 4,950 affordable homes over the next five years.

Overall, LiveWest delivered 899 new homes, with 788 for rent and shared ownership, and 111 for open market sale.

“In future years, we will aim to increase land-led schemes and the volume of development opportunities to ensure target delivery is achieved,” it said.

Part of this strategy involves reducing its “reliance on Section 106 development opportunities” by engaging with Homes England grant opportunities, the South West landlord said.

LiveWest also said it was focusing on reducing the volume of repairs work in progress in 2024-25, as well as dedicating more resources to complaints prevention and management.

“We had one severe maladministration issued by the Housing Ombudsman in the year and we are reflecting and embedding the lessons learnt to improve future services,” Jacqueline Starr, chair, and Paul Crawford, chief executive of Live West, said in a joint statement.

In February, LiveWest announced it had agreed to acquire 114 homes from Countryside Partnerships for an undisclosed sum on the site of a major new town in Devon that is under construction.

The project is part of plans for a new town called Sherford, near Plymouth, with around 5,500 homes proposed overall.

It also agreed to pilot a new carpet policy after a campaign by renters’ union Acorn, which demanded that LiveWest stop fining outgoing tenants who fail to remove their carpets.