The National Housing Federation (NHF) has praised the UK government for taking action against for-profit housing providers describing themselves as “housing associations”.

Earlier this year, a for-profit housing provider calling itself “Sage Housing Association” rebranded as Sage Housing Ltd after facing a threat of legal action from the NHF.

Business Secretary Greg Clark has now told the NHF in a letter that he had contacted Companies House to seek reassurance that it would reject registrations from businesses masquerading as housing associations.

David Orr, chief executive of the NHF, told Inside Housing: “This is an important and timely intervention. At the heart of our mission and purpose as a sector is that we do what we do for the benefit of the community, not to distribute profits to shareholders.

“Our heritage and reputation in the country is built on this understanding. It is right that we take action to defend and protect that reputation.”

A spokesperson for Sage added: “Sage was approached by the regarding the use of the term ‘Sage Housing Association’ in April 2018.

“We provided a comprehensive response to their concerns at the time and acted decisively on their request.”