About the Society

Winchester Housing Society is a trading name of Winchester Working Men's Housing Society, and is part of the housing association sector in the UK.  It is a small, independent organisation but because it is a private registered provider of social housing, it is subject to regulation to help protect its tenants.  All the Society’s homes are in a single location in Fulflood, Winchester and form a distinctive, intact, traditional city-based estate.  All the housing (2 and 3 bedroomed homes) was built around 1911-1912, and purpose-built one-bedroomed flats for older people were added in the 1980s.

How the Society is Run

Constitution

Winchester Working Men’s Housing Society Limited is a Registered Society under the Co-operative & Community Benefit Societies Act (CCBS), and has charitable objectives and rules. In 2022 it decided to start using a shorter trading name, Winchester Housing Society, while preserving its original historic name and corporate identity. When it was set up in 1911, by local philanthropically-minded people in the city, it was for the purpose of providing housing in Winchester for low rents to those in need. Today the Society is run by a volunteer Committee of Management, drawn from suitably skilled and knowledgeable people from the local area, and also including some tenants. The Committee meets quarterly, and delegates the day to day running of the Society and its housing to the Chief Executive/Secretary supported by a small team of staff and contractors.

Registrations & Regulators

Winchester Housing Society is a trading name of Winchester Working Men's Housing Society, which is a registered society under the Co-operative & Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, number 5338R, and it is a former Industrial & Provident Society. It is a private registered provider of social housing, regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing, number L2732.

Stock Condition Surveys

The Society is responsible for ensuring that the houses and flats it owns, provide suitable homes for its tenants and their households. This means not just day to day maintenance and repair, but also a planned and cyclical approach to major renovations and modernisations. Since their construction in 1911, Society homes have received several new and replacement installations for central heating, kitchens, bathrooms, windows, doors and roof systems. Today our challenges include contributing to UK targets for zero carbon, and meetiing the needs of modern households. To help us monitor and plan in the long term, the Society takes the advice of specialists and recognises best practise and standards in the social housing sector. Our tenants have a responsibility to report maintenance and repair needs to the Society promptly so that we can keep their homes in good condition, but we also undertake professional surveys to review and monitor general condition, and there is a continual programme of inspections and certifications for gas safety and servicing, electrical safety, and routine asbestos monitoring.

Independent Charitable Purposes

When the Society was established in 1911, it was for the purpose of providing housing in Winchester for low rents to those in need. This is a charitable purpose. It is known as an exempt charity, and the Society is not allowed to make profits for the purpose of paying out dividends to anyone. The Society’s income comprises rents, and its expenditure comprises running costs such as maintenance, staffing, insurance and long term improvement projects. Most years, the Society will have more income than expenditure (in other words, it makes a Surplus), which it needs to generate and save to pay for very large projects that will be needed every few decades such as roof works, drains and water supplies, and other such expensive or unexpected needs. This is the only way that such costs can be paid for, to secure the long term future of the housing on the estate. The saved Surpluses are known as Reserves, and the Society looks after its Reserves carefully by placing them in suitable banks or investments, until they are needed. Any interest earned on the Reserves is added on to the Society’s savings. Surpluses of income over expenditure that are kept within the Society in this way are not called profits, and this is why the Society is also described as “not for profit.”

Our Committee of Management

The members of the Society's Committee of Management are:

Robert Loughridge (Chairman)

Mike Brady

Roberta Brockman

Sam Farzam

Sarah Hamiduddin

John Leeson

Angela Ward Brown

Makeda Watkinson

They can be contacted at the Society's registered office: 6a Ronald Bowker Court, Greenhill Road, Winchester, SO22 5EA.

Our Staff

Our staff are:

Sally Moger - Chief Executive and Secretary

Pete Lillywhite/Jim Bruce - Property Manager

Fiona Beckett - Finance

Their contact details are set out on our Contacts page, and staff can also be contacted at the Society's registered office: 6a Ronald Bowker Court, Greenhill Road, Winchester, SO22 5EA

The Properties We Manage

The Society owns and manages 92 homes in Fulflood, Winchester.  Most of these are 2 or 3 bedroomed houses built in 1911-1912, in terraced blocks or semi-detached units.  The floorplans of the houses and the size of gardens varies across the estate.  There are no detached properties and no large houses, and our maximum household occupancy is 5.  The houses are arranged in a traditional estate including parts of Greenhill Road, Cheriton Road and Milverton Road, Winchester.  The original 1911 estate included some allotments adjacent to the houses; those in the lower part of the estate near Cheriton Road were given up to Winchester City Council and are now the site of the Council’s properties at Fulflood Court.  The allotments at the upper part of the estate were used by the Society for the construction of Ronald Bowker Court, a small purpose-built development of one-bedroomed flats for older people.  All the properties are let on assured non-shorthold tenancies, to eligible people according to the Society’s charitable purpose and social housing regulation.

A History of Winchester Housing Society

The Society was established in 1911 by a group of voluntary, philanthropically-minded people in Winchester, with the aim of providing good quality housing for rent to people in the city, at a cost they could afford. It's founding name, which is still preserved, is Winchester Working Men's Housing Society.  In 2022 it decided to start using a simpler and shorter trading name, Winchester Housing Society.  A traditional estate of housing was built on land conveyed to the Society by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

Have an Enquiry?

Need to get in touch? Got an idea for how we can improve our services? Want find out more information about Winchester Housing Society? Contact us we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Contact Us

Submit a Repair Request

Do you have a maintenance issue you wish to submit? Use the repair request form to submit details of your issue so we can make sure the right person is sent to deal with the problem.

Send Request