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New Charter formed as the new landlords
to own and manage homes transferred from Tameside Metropolitan
Borough Council in Greater Manchester in March 2000. Then, it
was Britain’s biggest Large Scale Voluntary Transfer. Now,
with a turnover of £59million a year, a stock of 18,400
homes and a workforce of over 800, New Charter is one of the
largest Registered Social Landlords in the North West.
We inherited homes needing over £220 million of
repairs and maintenance, and a 10-year improvement programme
started immediately. We will complete this - and much else -
ahead of schedule.
We aim to get the basics right, delight our
customers, and build and sustain communities. We are an enthusiastic
supporter of the iN business
for neighbourhoods campaign, as
our role is about more than just housing. We aim to use our success
locally to help us grow throughout the North West, and further
afield.
We have an outstanding Building Company in the Group which
does much of our repairs and investment, as well as winning
work competitively outside the business.
We aim to let homes at affordable rents. Our performance
has improved every year, and our satisfaction ratings from
tenants have topped the English league table of large landlords
for each of the last three years.
Tenant involvement and
influence is critical to us, and tenants have a greater say
on all matters that affect their homes. We regularly measure
their views and change how we do things as a result.
Our
funding is from a syndicate led by the Nationwide Building
Society. We have refinanced to allow us to spend more – on
speeding up improvements, investing in the environment and
buying and building new homes for rent.
In November 2005, we expanded
by incorporating Aksa Housing Association, based in Oldham. In
November 2008 we added a new landlord, Gedling Homes, to the
Group. This will add around 3360 homes in north Nottinghamshire
to our holding. We have ambitious plans for further growth.
New
Charter is the first housing association in the country to sponsor
an Academy, a new type of school. It opened on two campuses in
Ashton-under-Lyne in September 2008.
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