Housing Transfer

The Council is proposing to transfer its 2,000 homes to a new local not-for-profit housing organisation, set up with help of the Council, called Berwick Borough Housing. If the transfer goes ahead, £27million would be unlocked to be invested in tenants’ homes and services over the first five years alone. This is £15 million more than the Council could afford over the same period. Over the next thirty years the investment would total over £100m!

If it went ahead, the money unlocked by transfer would be invested in:-

• A massive home improvement programme including new doors, windows and central heating fitted in many tenants’ homes.
• Improvements to the housing services
• Making environmental improvements to estates and communal areas

In addition tenants would have four places on the Board of Berwick Borough Housing. This would give tenants a third of its members and a big say in how homes were run in the future.

Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council would help set up Berwick Borough Housing to take over the ownership and management of the Council’s homes. The new housing organisation would be based in Berwick and any surplus money it makes through tenants’ rent payments would be reinvested back into improving tenants’ homes and services.

While totally locally based and accountable, Berwick Borough Housing would also be part of an existing housing group called Three Rivers Housing Group, which would provide valuable resources and experience to help support Berwick Borough Housing.

All tenants’ key rights and entitlements would be protected if transfer goes ahead. However, the transfer can only take place if tenants give their backing in a ballot due to take place later this year. For more information please read our newsletters and other material by clicking on the links below.

In the coming months the Council will be sending out a series of newsletters, making home visits and producing a DVD giving tenants the facts about transfer. A formal consultation document, containing all the details about what transfer would mean, will be sent to all tenants before they are asked to vote on the proposals.

If tenants have any questions they want answering about transfer they can ring the Council’s freephone information line on 0800 298 8869 or alternatively ring the independent tenants’ advisor TPAS (who were selected by tenants to give free, independent advice during transfer consultation) on freephone 0800 731 1315.

Please select a link below to download a copy of a previous newsletter.

Tenants Newsletter One
Tenant newsletter Two
Tenant Newsletter Three
Tenant Newsletter Four
Housing transfer Newsletter