Longhurst Group and Grand Union Housing Group have agreed to join together as a single organisation.

We’re pleased to announce that the Boards of Grand Union Housing Group and Longhurst Group have approved the proposal for both organisations to merge and form one company.

This decision was made following the assessment of a detailed business case which set out the proposed benefits of the merger and how both organisations would come together.

The Boards also took time to thoroughly assess the results of a due diligence exercise and the thoughts and feedback of customers from both organisations, who shared their views during a six-week customer consultation.

The aim is for both organisations to come together formally and legally in December under a new name and brand. 

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Important information for you  

• Your rent and other charges won’t change because of a merger.
• Your tenancy, lease or tenancy agreement won’t be affected by a merger.
• Your tenancy rights won’t be affected either.
• The services you receive won’t change – although we aim to improve these by joining together.
• If you receive Welfare Benefits or entitlements, these won’t be affected.
• Technically, your landlord will change to Grand Union, but the new organisation will soon have a new name that would reflect the partnership.

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Frequently asked questions

We’ve created a detailed list of questions that we’ve anticipated that customers may have about the merger and have provided answers. 

    Read our Customer FAQs about the merger

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Outcomes of our customer consultation

Lasting six weeks, the customer consultation about our merger with Grand Union closed in September and saw just under 2,000 customers provide feedback, either by post, online or over the phone.

	Grand Union	Longhurst Group	Total
Post	450	1,144	1,594
Online	163	187	350
Phone	7	47	54
Total	620	1,378	1,998

In total, 47 percent of all feedback from customers of both organisations was positive or very positive, with only 19 percent negative or very negative. The remaining 34% of feedback was neutral.

Here’s the breakdown for both organisations:

Feedback themes

We asked customers to go into more detail about why you felt like you did about the proposals.

Some of the key reasons customers gave included:

• Investment in housing - Customers supported the merger because they were optimistic that it will lead to more investment in their homes. By coming together, we will have more resources to invest in the quality and condition of existing homes and neighbourhoods. This is a key focus for us.
• Scale - Many customers referenced the opportunities that being a larger organisation could bring in terms of driving efficiencies to reduce costs and deliver more efficient operations. This is a real driver for coming together. As a single organisation we’ll be able to drive down costs, and then reinvest into the business and our services. We’ll also have a greater influence at a local, regional and national level, being a force for good in housing.
• Quality of service - Customers supported the merger as they felt it would be a catalyst for improving services, particularly identifying the need for an improved repairs service. Our aim is to significantly improve key services and be more responsive to the repairs our customers raise, as we know how important this is for you.
• Providing local services - Some customers rightly said that they didn’t want us to lose our focus on the communities we serve. This merger has been built on the idea that our new organisation would be both ‘local and large’ which means we’d enjoy the benefits of coming together while retaining our focus on our communities and remaining responsive to our customers.

Finally, we asked what customers would like to see from the new organisation if the merger goes ahead. Some of the top themes were:

• Investment in existing homes
• Improved repairs service
• Improved communication with customers
• Better grounds maintenance.

We’re still busy analysing all of your suggestions, but our aim is to use this feedback to help shape our new organisation and its services.

Thanks again to everyone who gave their time to take part in the consultation. Keep an eye out for more opportunities in the coming months for ways you can stay involved in shaping our new organisation.

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Next steps

We’ll soon be sending a letter to all of our customers to update them on the news in more detail and to share more information about the themes that emerged from the customer consultation and the improvements they’d like to new organisation to make.

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