RSH Releases Ten Regulatory Judgements

The Regulator of Social Housing has today (Wednesday 28 January) published regulatory judgements for ten social landlords, as part of its inspection and stability check programmes.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council received a C1 grading following an inspection, meaning it meets the outcomes of RSH's consumer standards, identifying when issues occur and putting plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence.

Cheshire Peaks & Plains Housing Trust received C1/G1/V2 gradings, meaning that while it meets the consumer and governance standards and it has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, it needs to manage material risks to its viability to ensure continued compliance.

Meanwhile the City of Wolverhampton Council and St Albans City and District Council both received C2 gradings, meaning there are some weaknesses in their delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.

The City of Wolverhampton Council needs to improve data on its homes and has plans to bring more homes up to the Decent Homes Standard. Though its repairs service meets our requirements, the council also needs to improve its communication with tenants, including on repairs timescales.

Our inspection of St Albans found that while it has a good understanding of its homes and the vast majority meet the Decent Homes Standard, there were some weaknesses in its oversight and reporting of remedial actions from health and safety checks. It also needs to make improvements in meeting its target in relation to the timely completion of routine repairs.

RSH also published stability check outcomes for six landlords. All retained their current governance and viability gradings except Ocean Housing Group Limited, which was downgraded to a G2 governance grading. It retained its V2 grading.

Ocean Housing needs to improve the effectiveness of its risk and control framework in relation to oversight and management of strategic risks associated with its unregistered subsidiary, Gilbert and Goode.

Ocean Housing has also not ensured an effective approach to procurement, contract management and budgetary control in relation to its repairs service. Weaknesses in procurement of works and contract monitoring resulted in unknown overspends against its repairs budget.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement, said:

"While it is encouraging to see more landlords achieve C1 gradings as our regulation drives improvements across the sector, there is nevertheless no room for complacency - even for those landlords that receive the highest grades. We will continue to root out issues through our inspections, stability checks and other regulatory tools.

"Social landlords are facing intensifying risks so good governance remains more important than ever. Weaknesses in governance. can undermine a landlord's ability to maintain financial viability or to provide good homes and services to tenants.

"We will continue to engage constructively with these landlords where there are issues to ensure things are put right promptly."

Notes

The full list of judgements published today is provided in the table below.

1. 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.