The 54 homes at Long Readings Lane in Britwell revert to the council on 27 January and every tenant becomes a secure tenant. The company is being wound up.

Fifty-four homes at Long Readings Lane in Britwell stop being rented out by a company and become council homes on 27 January 2027. Every tenant living there becomes a secure council tenant on the same day, automatically.

The change was set out in a report to Slough Borough Council’s Cabinet on Monday 21 September. It is the end of a housing company the council set up in 1988, has struggled to account for since, and now says it can see no reason to keep.

What changes for the 54 households

The homes were built by Development Initiative for Slough Housing Ltd, known as DISH. The council has always owned the freehold of the land. DISH held a lease and was the landlord, while the council nominated the tenants, set the rents and did the repairs.

When the lease expires, that arrangement ends.

  • The landlord becomes Slough Borough Council. The properties revert under the original agreement, and the council is already the freeholder.
  • Assured tenancies become secure tenancies. The report says this happens automatically under section 79 of the Housing Act 1985, because the council becomes the landlord and none of the exceptions to security of tenure applies.
  • Grounds for possession change from the assured shorthold regime to the Housing Act 1985.
  • Empty homes will be let through the council’s allocations policy, rather than by a separate landlord.
  • Rents are not expected to move because of this. The report records that the council already sets the rents “in line with the Council’s approach to social rents”.

One thing the report does not address is the Right to Buy. It sets out the tenancy change in detail and says nothing about whether these tenants will qualify.

Tenants are to be written to jointly by the council and the company. The report gives a deadline of 31 October 2026 for that.

The dates

Timetable for the transfer of 54 homes at Long Readings Lane to Slough Borough Council A timeline of seven dates. The report went to Cabinet on 21 September 2026. Tenants are to be notified by 31 October 2026. New tenancy agreements take effect from 28 January 2027. The lease expires on 27 January 2027. The acquisition and appropriation of the 54 dwellings is processed by 3 February 2027. The company's wind-up resolution and declaration of solvency are due by 31 March 2027. The company is to be dissolved by 30 April 2027. From a company lease to council tenancies, in seven steps The timetable Slough Borough Council set out to Cabinet on 21 September 2026. 21 September 2026 Report goes to Cabinet. The published decision still reads "To Follow". By 31 October 2026 Tenants notified of the change of landlord, jointly by the council and the company. 27 January 2027 The lease expires. The 54 homes revert to the council and tenancies become secure. 28 January 2027 New tenancy agreements take effect. They are to be issued by 2 January. 3 February 2027 Acquisition and appropriation of the 54 dwellings processed, at an estimated £5,248,000. 31 March 2027 Company settles its liabilities and passes a wind-up resolution. Accounts finalised. 30 April 2027 DISH dissolved, by form DS01 to Companies House. Source: Slough Borough Council, Long Readings Lane estate and Development Initiative for Slough Housing Ltd, Cabinet, 21 September 2026. Graphic by Slough Daily
The lease ends on 27 January and the new tenancy agreements take effect the next day.

What DISH was, and why it is ending

The site was a secondary school. When the school closed, the council held the land as development land. DISH was incorporated on 27 January 1988 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, to increase the supply of affordable housing for people who might not otherwise reach it. It then built the 54 homes.

The company is still on the register. Companies House records Development Initiative for Slough Housing Company Limited, number 02214463, as active, incorporated on 27 January 1988, with its registered office at Observatory House, the council’s own headquarters. Its officers list runs to 32 officers and 31 resignations, leaving one active director, appointed in March 2024, whose correspondence address is also Observatory House.

The council’s report is unusually blunt about the state of the arrangement. It says the delivery vehicle “has become overly complex”, and gives the reasons as:

incomplete historic records, loss of corporate memory, poor governance and the legacy financial structuring

It then says that after several years of reviews and investigations, “the position remains unsatisfactory”.

Three specific findings sit behind that.

  • The company has had no bank account since late 2021 or early 2022. They were closed because board directors changed too often for the company to keep the bank signatories up to date. Its transactions have since been recorded on the council’s own finance system, in a separate cost centre.
  • The council may never have been a member of the company. The incorporation filings do not name it as one. The council has appointed directors for decades, apparently under a version of the articles that permits it but was never filed at Companies House.
  • The usual reasons for having a separate company do not apply. The report lists borrowing headroom, alternative funding, insulating risk and market rent flexibility, and says these are “either no longer relevant or have never been used”.

The review happened because it had to. Under directions issued by Government in November 2024, the council must re-examine the case for each of its companies. The report records that “Commissioners are content for this report to be considered”.

The money

The council looked at three options: renew the lease, sell the homes to another landlord, or take them into its own housing stock. It picked the third.

  • The land and homes move from the General Fund to the Housing Revenue Account at an estimated £5,248,000, based on an independent valuation held in a confidential appendix.
  • DISH owed the council £2.537m in rent and service charges as at 31 March 2026. The report proposes recognising that as income in the council’s 2025/26 accounts and moving the improvement to the budget smoothing reserve.
  • The homes are not currently on the council’s fixed asset register, so the valuation has to be added to the balance sheet.
  • The appropriation “will contribute towards a reduction in the General Fund’s borrowing requirements”.

The report also warns that the valuation had a limited scope, and that this must be fixed before the final figure is set, “to reduce the risks of latent liabilities plus immediate unplanned repair costs for the HRA”.

Selling to another landlord was rejected partly because it “reduces the ability for the Council to nominate tenants”. Renewing the lease was rejected because there is “no obvious benefit” to it.

What Cabinet actually decided is not published yet

The report went to Cabinet on Monday. As of Tuesday 22 September, the council’s published decision record for the item, and its printed decisions sheet for the meeting, both still read “To Follow”. Decisions on the other Cabinet items that night are published.

The lead member named on the report is Councillor E Ahmed, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Corporate Resources, and the chief officer is Ian O’Donnell, the Chief Operating Officer. The report was a key decision and, on its own front sheet, subject to call in.

What it means for you

If you rent one of the 54 homes, expect a letter by the end of October. The report puts that action on the council’s housing service, acting on behalf of the company, with new tenancy agreements issued by 2 January 2027 to take effect from 28 January.

Your security of tenure goes up, not down. A secure council tenancy carries stronger protection against eviction than the assured tenancy DISH granted. The change happens by operation of law on the day the lease ends, not by anything you have to sign.

Nothing here adds a new home to Slough. The 54 properties already exist and are already let and managed by the council. What changes is the legal landlord, the tenancy type and which set of the council’s books they sit in. The report is explicit that the gain is that the council “gains control of 54 properties and is able to utilise these as part of its general needs stock”.

If you are on the housing register, these homes now fall under the allocations policy. Voids at Long Readings Lane will be let the same way as the rest of the council’s stock.

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