Confirmation of transferring your home to Eastlight Community Homes
We wrote to you in July, explaining Clarion had reached an agreement in principle to transfer our homes in your area to Eastlight Community Homes (Eastlight). Following formal consultation with residents, the Clarion Housing Association Board has given final approval for the transfer to take place on Monday 16 September 2024.
We received a positive response to the formal consultation with residents, which closed on Tuesday 13 August 2024. Residents raised queries, during the consultation period, relating to rent payments, estate and complaints management post transfer and Eastlight’s policies and procedures. We have provided summary responses to all the queries raised.
Eastlight demonstrated it provides a high-quality service and has a long-term commitment to the residents and their homes. They were chosen through a rigorous evaluation process with the help of Clarion resident representatives.
This means that after Monday 16 September 2024, Eastlight Community Homes will be your new landlord.
Your Rights
Please be reassured that you will remain in your home. Your tenancy or leasehold rights and security will not change because of this transfer. Your home will simply be owned and / or managed by Eastlight as your new landlord.
Rent and Service Charge Payments
All rent and service charge payments from Monday 16 September 2024 must be paid to Eastlight. They will be writing to you very soon and will provide a Rent Authority letter confirming that you must pay all charges due to Eastlight, along with further information on the range of payment methods available to you.
If you pay rent to Clarion by standing order, please cancel this with your bank for payments to end after Monday 16 September 2024.
If you pay rent to Clarion by Direct Debit, Clarion will be cancelling the Direct Debit once your final payment is received prior to the transfer.
What to do if you receive Housing Benefit or Universal Credit
If you receive Housing Benefit (HB), you need to let your Housing Benefit Office know of your changing circumstances, in this case, a change of landlord to Eastlight and provide details as to when this change is taking place.
Clarion will also notify the local authority of the impending change of landlord and advise all HB payments are to be made to Eastlight from Monday 16 September 2024.
If you receive Universal Credit instead, you need to let the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) know your new landlord details. You can get in touch with them by logging in to your Universal Credit account at gov.uk/sign-in-universal-credit or by calling them on 0800 328 5644. You may be charged for the call though, so please check how much this costs first.
If you do not hear back from them, contact them again. It is your responsibility to let the DWP know of any changes to your circumstances, including a change of landlord.
Repairs
Please note Clarion will attend to all emergency repairs up until the transfer on Monday 16 September 2024. Any repairs that have been reported to Clarion but are not resolved before transfer will be forwarded to Eastlight, who will then make arrangements to complete them.
We will transfer relevant information about you, your tenancy / lease and your property to the new landlord so they can continue to manage your tenancy effectively. Clarion will keep a copy of some information in line with our data retention period to meet our legal obligations and delete this when no longer required.
If you have any questions about the information in this letter, please contact Communities First before Monday 16 September 2024 on Freephone 0300 365 7150 or email at clarion@communitiesfirst.uk.com.