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WQ.435/2020
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2020
Question
With reference to Oral Question 192/2019, will the Minister (as shareholder representative) advise whether any Andium homes have been, or will be, sold on the open market to off-Island investors, buy-to-let purchasers, or lock-up and leave' investors, especially those within the Millennium Park Development; and, if so, will the Minister confirm the number and size of Andium properties sold in this manner?
Answer
The Minister can confirm that no Andium Homes properties have been sold on the open market to off- island investors. Since incorporation Andium Homes have sold a small number of properties in the open market on a Freehold or Flying Freehold basis mainly due to them being financially unviable to renovate. All purchasers would need to have been "Entitled" to purchase, but their ultimate intentions for the properties would not have been recorded.
The former Gas Works site adjacent to the Millennium Town Park is not a Category A (Affordable Housing) site under the Planning Law. As such there is no requirement to construct affordable homes on the site and, had Andium Homes not acquired the site, it is envisaged that none of the significantly greater number of homes proposed by the former owner, would have been affordable. "Affordable" in this context means homes that are accessible through the Affordable Housing Gateway, the principles of which were agreed in P.33/2013 The Reform of Social Housing and the white paper R.47/2012.
Andium Homes acquired the site on a commercial basis and on 17 January 2018 P114/2017 was approved by the Assembly. The Proposition stated: "Andium Homes is proposing to reduce the overall yield of new homes on the particular site and develop only 110 homes, some of which would be affordable homes" The development of the Gas Works site must be financially viable and sustainable, and it is likely therefore that some of the homes will need to be sold on the open market.
Homes sold by Andium are sold on a Freehold or Flying Freehold basis which requires that buyers must be Entitled' to purchase under the Control of Housing & Work Law. Homes sold on the Jersey Gas site will only be sold in this way, but until the overall costs of the development are finalised it is not possible to confirm how many of the homes will need to be sold in this manner. All affordable homes will be offered through the Housing Gateway; how open market properties are utilised by purchasers once the transaction is completed is a matter for the ultimate owner.