Osprey Housing freezes rents following successful restructure

Osprey Housing is freezing rents for tenants across the north-east until next year, then capping rents for at least another two years.

The freeze comes as Osprey Housing and Osprey Housing Moray become a single entity on 1 April in a move poised to deliver a range of streamlined benefits for tenants and their families.

Osprey Housing Group’s Chief Executive Officer Glenn Adcook said: “This is a major milestone for Osprey and marks the start of an important new chapter for us as a leading and innovative provider of quality social housing in the north-east of Scotland.

“It is important to underline that Osprey tenants have been involved in this concept since its inception. Being able to put in place a rent freeze underlines our commitment to affordability and putting tenants at the heart of everything we do while also benefiting our staff and the wider communities we serve.”

Osprey Moray tenants were given the opportunity to vote in an independently conducted ballot on joining parent body Osprey Housing to become one single entity landlord.

They gave the transfer of engagements their full support and — together with Osprey’s tenants in Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City — will now see their rents frozen until 31 March 2022 with increases restricted to the Consumer Price Index level of inflation for the financial years 2022-2023 and 2023-24.

Mr Adcook said: “Creating a single entity puts us on a stronger financial footing and will allow us to release additional funds to both build more homes across the region and accelerate our improvements programme for existing homes.

“We now have increased financial capacity to commit to upgrading our existing homes as well as building new homes and taking further measures to enhance energy efficiency.

“We are fully committed to making all Osprey homes as energy-efficient as possible while also reducing heating costs for our tenants.”

He added: “All Osprey’s Moray staff are transferring to the new single entity Osprey Housing and the move creates a platform to introduce new, tailored, and more efficient ways of working and providing tenant services.

“We are now exploring how we can best use emerging digital platforms to deliver our frontline services more efficiently while at the same time bringing fresh focus to supporting tenants beyond traditional housing issues.

“This will incorporate, for example, specialist support on tenancy sustainment including new approaches to helping our tenants continue to live independently as they grow older.”

The Chairman of the newly consolidated Osprey Housing remains Mike Scott, former Director of Housing with Aberdeen City Council who has more than 25 years’ experience in a range of senior local authority roles.

Mr Scott said: “This transfer of engagements to create a single landlord entity is of enormous benefit to the organisation and our staff as well as all our tenants.

“Maintaining affordable rents in uncertain times is a top priority and this move ensures that we can do that for the foreseeable future.”