A HOUSING provider has won a landmark case against unions, which claimed it failed to properly handle a local authority homes takeover.
The national unions of Unison, GMB and Ucatt claimed that Sunderland City Council and the Sunderland Housing Group failed to inform and consult them over the transfer of Sunderland's council houses to the group in March last year under the 1981 Transfer of Undertakings regulations.
But following a legal challenge, both the council and the group have been exonerated, and a ruling has stated that they acted properly throughout the process.
Kevin Kelly, director of corporate services for Sunderland Housing Group, said: "We are delighted with this result. We always believed that we had acted properly and within the law and this ruling justifies that belief. Given that we have incurred considerable legal expenses in defending this action, we will naturally be looking for recovery of these from the unions involved.
"It seems absurd and unfair to expect the tenants of Sunderland to pay for the unions' unnecessary and failed action, particularly bearing in mind that neither local tenants nor the local union members supported the case."
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