Housing providers slammed for poor standards

Wiltshire Council called on housing associations to invest in older stock instead of disposing of them on the housing market

Wiltshire Council has approved a motion demanding better standards from two major housing associations on future property sales and maintenance.

It comes after reports that Aster Group and GreenSquareAccord were removing residents from properties that were then put for sale on open markets.

GreenSquareAccord was pulled up for poor maintenance and excessive service charges.

Both providers say property sales can help fund reinvestment and improvement of housing stock.

'Appalling and unprofessional'

Co-author of the motion and Cabinet member for planning, Nick Botterill described GreenSquareAccord's behaviour as "appalling and unprofessional" and accused them of "playing with people's lives".

Wiltshire Council's Lib Dem leader, Ian Thorn said: "I’ve seen residents in GreenSquareAccord properties that, bluntly, you wouldn’t keep animals in.

"We’ve all seen this – where residents have got water, literally permanently, running down their walls, who have been waiting years to have some sort of work done that might address the issue.”

Councillor Lisa Farrell from Marlborough Town Council said: "They use bully tactics, which I find very upsetting, on our very vulnerable elderly people.”

'Support customers affected'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a spokesperson for GreenSquareAccord said: "Investing in our existing homes to make sure they are of a high standard for our customers is a top priority for us.

“In 2023/24 we invested £71.2m on repairs and improvements. We have a legal and ethical responsibility to make sure our homes are... energy efficient and as cheap to run as possible.

“To achieve this we must make sensible, sustainable decisions about our investments.

“In some instances, the cost of investing to bring a property up to the required standards cannot be justified and, in those cases, the responsible decision is to sell that property.

“When this happens we provide tailored support and compensation for impacted customers and help them to move on to suitable alternative accommodation.”

Aster Group said in a statement: "In a very small number of cases, we will sometimes sell a property that is unsustainable.

“This enables us to reinvest money from the sale into building more modern, energy efficient, affordable homes that better meet our customers’ needs.

“We support any customer affected by this throughout the entire process, providing them with suitable alternative accommodation and assistance with moving to their new home.”

Wiltshire Council passed the motion requiring better standards unanimously at a full council meeting on July 24.