Community Land Trusts (CLTs)

Aster and Community Land Trusts (CLTs)

We work with Community Land Trusts (CLTs) which are a form of community-led housing, set up and run by people within their local communities to develop and manage homes as well as other assets. CLTs act as long-term stewards of housing, ensuring that homes remain genuinely affordable, not just for now but for every future occupier. We have a dedicated specialised team who work to deliver schemes with CLTs. If you are a CLT or have a site which you believe would be suitable for a CLT scheme, then please contact Karl. 

How Aster’s CLT schemes work

A CLT will usually choose to work with us following an interview process. Once on board, our dedicated community housing team will work with the CLT to carry out due diligence and promote a scheme through the planning process, securing grant funding and appointing a contractor. The due diligence and planning costs are either funded by the CLT, or us, or jointly shared.

The CLT retains the freehold interest in the land and we develop and manage the scheme under a long lease. A small ground rent is paid to the CLT (CLTs are exempt from the forthcoming ban in leasehold houses and ground rent payments) to cover the CLTs running costs as well as other small community projects.

Most land led CLT schemes require grant funding and with our Strategic Partnership funding from Homes England, we are well placed to support this; in some cases, funding is also received from local authorities. CLT schemes are by nature usually small, technically challenging schemes which are often all available for rent.