A pan-European consortium of housing associations is considering the creation of the first continent-wide social landlord.

According to Inside Housing:

The European Federation for Living, a collective of 13 housing associations from across the European Union, including four UK members, is discussing the possibility of establishing a cross-border housing co-operative.

The organisation is also seeking between €3 million and €30 million of EU funding for members to invest in building and retrofitting homes with zero carbon emissions.

The new landlord would be jointly owned by tenants and professionals, a model common in Germany and the Netherlands.

It would own and manage homes across the EU.

Paul Tennant, chief executive of EFL member Orbit, said a cross-border Euro-landlord could succeed.

‘Why would a sector like ours not look for global solutions?’ he said. ‘In many cases housing associations face similar issues in terms of capital, leadership and the need for business to transform.

‘From our point of view the EFL can really help in terms of sustainability and European funding, which are areas UK landlords don’t know as much about.’

Mike Ward, executive director of property at Circle and a board member of EFL, said: ‘[An EU-wide landlord] is an interesting idea, although it is at a very early stage. It’s one of the suggestions members are exploring, and sometimes there is something in [a proposal], sometimes not.’

Joost Nieuwenhuijzen, managing director of EFL, said the idea had been put forward by a German member and that it would take a year to find out if it was workable.

He added: ‘Personally I would support members who would like to see the creation of a Europe-wide landlord, with diversification of different kinds of funding.’

The EFL, which has members spanning seven countries, aims to combine the sharing of best practice with help to access EU funding. Circle, Habinteg and Wheatley Group make up the UK membership, with other landlords understood to be applying. Mr Nieuwenhuijzen said landlords must offer ‘something new’ in terms of expertise in order to join the group.

He added that Circle had recently led a successful bid on behalf of the federation for €2.5 million, to help educate tenants about carbon efficiency measures.