HAs reassess private rented sector positions

He said: “We own 100 per cent of L&Q PRS Co; there are no other investors. There is a third-party debt in there from the government guarantee scheme, which is administered by [ARA] Venn, but we own the shares.

“So, I suppose the question for us is: do we do a joint venture, do we dispose of 50 per cent of equity, do we dispose of larger chunks, or do we keep it?”

NHG’s market rent brand Folio London said it is looking at next steps for its portfolio, which currently has around £1bn of assets.

Lizzie Stevens, director at Folio London, ruled out a sale of the portfolio, but said: “We’ve got about 3,500 units, which have grown year on year. We are actually at a bit of a stage where we’re just reviewing what we’re doing with it.

“It’s very valuable and we’re quite proud of that, but we are a housing association and it’s not our core function. So, at the minute, we’re looking at whether we continue to grow it, or actually do we scale it back a little bit and then continue to grow it again?”

Meanwhile, one Northern housing association said it is pulling back from the sector. The PRS previously formed part of the group’s strategy. It had set a target of delivering around a third build-to-rent, a third affordable and a third outright sale across its schemes. But it said that its PRS delivery today is “very, very low”.

Greater levels of grant for delivering affordable homes and an inability to make a major PRS development “stack up” were some of the key drivers behind this decision, it said.

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