Devonshires Banking Update - February 2024

Our latest update is now available. This edition includes a profile of our newest qualified Solicitor, Lucy Poppleton, and a round up of some of our recent deals in the housing sector. We are proud to have supported Abri and Silva Homes on the finance aspects of their recent merger,  Grand Union and Jigsaw on large refinancing exercises and Hightown on its ground-breaking green private placement.

We also focus on the new failure to prevent fraud offence which will be implemented in the near future as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. It would be easy for Registered Providers and Registered Social Landlords to discount this legislation on the assumption that it would not apply to charitable associations. However, it in fact applies to any organisation (including community benefit societies and registered charities) which meets certain criteria and therefore qualifies as suitably “large”. 

The criteria will undoubtedly result in many housing associations being subject to the new rules and offence. Clients will need to prepare for the impending implementation by conducting risk assessments, examining current fraud detection and prevention measures and ensuring they have policies in place to prevent fraud and thereby avoiding prosecution. 

For more detail, read the full update here.