L&Q sells 201 homes to fellow London landlord
G15 landlord L&Q has sold 201 homes on housing estates to another London-based provider as it continues a long-running “stock rationalisation” programme.
RHP is based in Teddington (picture: Alamy)
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The 105,000-home landlord has offloaded the homes to Teddington-based RHP for an undisclosed sum.
John Lumley, strategic sales director at L&Q, said: “This transfer forms part of L&Q’s wider stock rationalisation plan, and it ensures we simplify services to residents on previously multi-landlord estates.”
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L&Q has been selling off homes for the past few years to focus on improving its service to tenants. In a notable stock transfer in 2022, it sold 800 homes to Southern Housing Group, which is now called Southern Housing since its merger with Optivo.
In June, S&P Global downgraded its credit rating on L&Q to BBB+ due to the extra amount it needs to spend on existing homes.
L&Q also announced this summer that it had sold its strategic land subsidiary, L&Q Estates, to London-based developer Urban & Civic.
Sarah Thomas, chief executive of RHP, said the homes it has acquired from L&Q are in its “heartland”, so it “made sense” for the association to buy them.
Many of the homes are next to existing RHP properties, which the landlord said will allow it to take over managing them with “little disruption to residents”.
RHP also had its credit rating downgraded by S&P this summer. The group was moved to an A rating from A+ as S&P said its financial performance is expected to remain “subdued” due to spending more on existing stock.
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