Housing governance

With a proven track record across housing associations of all sizes as well as organisations working with them, our housing governance lawyers advise on the full spectrum of governance related matters. Our dedicated team has specific expertise in formations and registration with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), reviewing and updating constitutions, intragroup arrangements, charity law and co-operative and community benefit society law alongside company law and social housing regulation.

Delivering a seamless, solutions-focused approach, we advise on the formation and registration of new corporate organisations including companies (limited by shares or guarantee), registered societies (community benefit or mutuals), limited liability partnerships, community interest companies and charitable incorporated organisations. We draft the constitutions and support our clients through the registration process as well as dealing with the legal formalities. We also assist on applications for registered provider status, offering our clients step by step guidance and helping them to provide the RSH with the necessary assurances. Our lawyers have registered both not-for-profit registered providers (RPs) and for-profit ones.

Group structures and draft intragroup agreements for RPs are another key area of focus. This can be for providers that are forming subsidiaries or for those that are being formed by non-RPs. In each case, we ensure that the appropriate control provisions are in place for the parent body and that any subsidiary RPs have the necessary degree of independence and support from their parent bodies to satisfy the RSH’s requirements. We also advise RPs on common/overlapping boards and the constitutional, governance and regulatory issues involved, including guidance on the avoidance of conflicts of interest and drafting suitable conflict of interest policies.

All the various forms of constitutional change fall within our remit including changes to a company’s articles of association or a registered society’s rules; adoption of charitable status and conversion from one corporate status to another (for example, company to community benefit society). This covers obtaining any necessary regulatory consents, such as from the Charity Commission, and compliance with the RSH’s notification regime. We are also appointed to deregister RPs by the RSH and on the winding up/dissolution of companies and registered societies that are no longer needed.

In addition to constitutions, our lawyers are well versed in related governance policies such as standing orders, conflicts of interest and board membership policies. Increasingly, we are assisting our housing clients on compliance issues linked to the new legal and regulatory changes applying to the maintenance and management of their housing stock and the provision of their housing service. We also provide training sessions on an array of corporate and governance issues such as the duty to comply with all law, payment of board members, the regulatory regime, obligations on charity trustees, board member duties and liabilities, and anti-money laundering.