The Regulator of Social Housing has published six regulatory judgements, including a C4 for Basildon Borough Council
The Regulator of Social Housing has today published a C4 grading for Basildon Borough Council after finding very serious failings during an inspection.
RSH found:
- Poor data assurance for legal health and safety requirements, and a lack of assurance that remedial actions are accurately recorded or actioned in a timely way.
- A lack of accurate information on the quality of tenants' homes, particularly the recording and monitoring of potential hazards.
- Serious failings in its engagement with tenants and a lack of meaningful opportunities for them to scrutinise landlord services, policies and strategies. RSH also found the council does not have sufficient assurance of repairs performance, or effective oversight of its contractor.
In addition, RSH found issues with the council's Tenant Satisfaction Measure (TSM) reporting, and no evidence of any analysis, learning or actions from the results to improve services.
Basildon Council did not self-refer to RSH, after an external review in March 2025 found the council was not delivering a range of outcomes in the consumer standards. Due to the seriousness - including the scale and breadth - of the issues identified during the inspection, the lack of self-referral was itself a very serious failing.
Basildon Council now needs to make fundamental changes so it can deliver improved outcomes for tenants. The council has been engaging constructively with RSH, but it still needs to develop a full understanding of current risks to tenants and the root causes of the failings. This will enable the council to develop its improvement plan and drive the fundamental changes needed to address these failings.
Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:
"We are working intensively with Basildon Council to make sure it understands the risks to tenants and takes prompt action to put things right - prioritising the highest risk issues.
"This case reinforces the importance of landlords self-referring to us when they find problems - either themselves or through external reviews. This is a fundamental requirement of our consumer standards. By flagging issues to us at an early stage, landlords can solve them more quickly and, in doing so, protect tenants and improve services."
RSH today also added YMCA Thames Gateway to its gradings under review list , while it investigates matters which may indicate serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard and the consumer standards .
RSH also published five other regulatory judgements.
Worthing Homes was downgraded from G1 to G2 following an inspection. The housing association meets RSH's governance and financial viability requirements overall, but it needs to improve aspects of its governance to support continued compliance. This includes the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the information it holds, and work is already underway to strengthen these areas. It also received C2 and V2 grades.
One Vision Housing Limited was also downgraded from G1 to G2. The provider meets RSH's governance requirements overall but needs to improve some aspects of its governance, including board reporting to support improved oversight of safety and quality outcomes for tenants, as well as aspects of its stress testing. It also received C1 and V1 grades.
Norwich City Council was given a C1 grading after an inspection, meaning it meets the outcomes of RSH's consumer standards. It has an accurate and up-to-date understanding of tenants' homes, takes proactive steps to comply with health and safety legislation, provides an effective repairs service and offers a wide range of engagement opportunities for tenants - using the feedback to influence service delivery.
Torus62 Limited was upgraded from C2 to C1. The provider was inspected in May 2025 and given a C2 grading and has been delivering an improvement plan. As a result of this work, RSH has concluded that Torus62 has strengthened its oversight of health and safety compliance and provided assurance that it is delivering an effective repairs service. Its G1 and V1 grades remain unchanged.
Incommunities Limited was given G1, V2 and C2 grades following an inspection. The provider meets RSH's governance and financial viability requirements. There are some weaknesses in delivering the consumer standards which it is working to improve.
Notes
On 1 April 2024 RSH introduced new consumer standards for social housing landlords, designed to drive long-term improvements in the sector. It also began a programme of landlord inspections. The changes are a result of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and include stronger powers to hold landlords to account.
