Data matters: The essential role of data in affordable housing securitisation
21st October, 2025
In housing securitisation and portfolio disposal, a set of good data is essential for informed decision making and maximising value.
It provides you with a true picture of ownership and enables your advisors to provide you with a “health check” for properties to identify potential issues. Good data is data that is:
- Accurate
- Easily accessible (to the right people)
- Secure
- Useable – in that it can be sorted, manipulated and is useful
Good data enables early identification of issues in properties such as restrictive use covenants, requirements for third-party consents, short leases, bad forfeiture clauses or planning agreements that may contain defective clauses – all of which could lead to possible delays and limitations on value. The more information provided to your professional team early on, the better, as it saves time and money during the transaction.
Identifying these issues early means that your professional team can advise you on the best way to deal with any such issue and provide solutions for getting your properties into charge at maximum value which, in turn, allows you to make strategic decisions about the best use of your stock at an early stage.
It also means that practical information about the properties such as build dates, shared ownership equity percentages, scheme/development names, EPC ratings and insurance information is available to review immediately, removing the need to chase for this information during the transaction.
In terms of decision making, it allows your Executive team and Board make informed decisions (which is a key element of the Regulator of Social Housing’s message to RPs since the launch of the Consumer Standards) and for your professional advisors to advise in the best possible way. Decisions are only as good as the information relied upon.
Why good data is essential for lenders in the affordable housing sector
The Author spoke to George Akerman, Trust Manager at The Law Debenture Trust Corporation Plc, about the importance of good data to a lender in the Affordable Housing sector. He said:
“The need for good data isn’t just relevant at the charging or disposal stage of property transactions: It’s essential for RPs to work with their lenders or security trustee to track all movements in the portfolios of units throughout their time in charge/allocation, and ensure that all parties are maintaining accurate records. Parity across parties is critical!
Maintaining accurate and up-to-date records in respect of changes in unit values (including nil-value), retained equity in the case of shared ownership units going through multiple staircasing exercises, and (where units are charged to a security trustee) whether your units are allocated to a lender (and which lender that is if it’s been re-allocated multiple times through the life of charge!), or sat unallocated saves immeasurable time and cost when acceding new lenders into an existing security trust structure or when re-allocating units from one lender to another within the existing trust structure. It also makes quarterly unit reconciliations, valuation exercises, and day-to-day consent/release requests with RPs solicitors a much smoother process for everyone involved!
Law Deb is proud of its custom-built property management database which allows us to track the movement of every one of our units in charge in a live environment, including full audit history of that unit from the date of charge.”
Wider importance of good data for Registered Providers of affordable housing
As well as the usefulness of a health check of your data for transactional purposes, it also ensures that you are:
- Compliant with the Social Housing (Regulations) Act 2023 – transparency is key. RPs must “collect, process and publish information in relation to regulatory standards” and “Boards should ensure the Landlord has an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes” – Regulators Report on Consumer Standards 1 Year On, July 2025
- Compliant with the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman regimes – there have been many examples of Registered Providers’ viability being affected by failure to understand the quality and nature of their stock. “Where landlords had managing agents or third parties involved, we have found examples where a lack of clarity on responsibilities led to gaps in knowledge around stock quality and health and safety compliance, as well as poor outcomes for tenants facing a frustrating lack of clarity over where responsibility lies” – Regulators Report on Consumer Standards 1 Year On, July 2025
- Able to make informed decisions about retrofit works you are planning – considerations should be given to embarking on a major works programme where the property has a short lease, for example, or another part of the business is thinking of disposing of it as part of a wider disposal programme
- Undertaking repair and maintenance of stock in correct priority order – thereby putting your customers’ needs first, allowing planned maintenance to occur more efficiently.
- Identifying stock that can be disposed of through planned stock rationalisation
- Stress testing your portfolio effectively
The risks of a lack of data
We understand the challenges that Registered Providers face in this respect, it’s costly to improve and invest in bespoke systems when there are so many other drains on resource right now. Registered Providers hold a vast amount of data and it’s difficult to keep that data up to date. Registered Providers with historical or merged stock will find it particularly difficult as record keeping in the past or by one of the merged Providers may not have been as good as it is now. Not to mention the importance of GDPR when handling the data and the risk of cyber-attack.
But by not having good data in a charging or disposal transaction, you risk:
- Reputation – with your lender and the Regulator, as well as with your customers and the wider public in some instances;
- Spending more money than you need to;
- Making ill-informed decisions;
- Not getting the maximum value from your stock;
- Deals taking longer to complete, risking missing KPIs, breaching agreements and overspend; and
- Regulator/Ratings downgrades in situations where poor financial or governance decisions have been made.
For any help and advice with anything discussed in this article, please contact Natalie Owen.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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