Three councils fail to meet RSH’s consumer standards

Three councils have failed to meet the outcomes of the consumer standards in regulatory judgements issued by the Regulator of Social Housing today (Wednesday 25 February). 

Runnymede Borough Council received a C4 rating due to very serious failings in how the local authority is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. And both City of London Corporation and Rugby Borough Council received C3 gradings following inspections.

Runnymede BC made a self-referral to RSH in June 2025, prior to inspection, after it had identified issues relating to rent setting.

RSH identified issues in several other areas at inspection including:

• Runnymede BC had carried out surveys of 58% of its homes since 2021, but only 30% had a full stock condition survey.
• Inadequate monitoring and reporting of hazards in tenants' homes, with almost 250 previously unknown hazards identified as a direct result of RSH's inspection.
• No evidence that Runnymede BC was checking the accuracy and integrity of data for required health and safety checks and actions.
• A lack of understanding of the diverse needs of its tenants and very serious failings of taking tenants' views into account in decision-making and service delivery.

Although Runnymede BC indicated a willingness to address these very serious failings, RSH has not seen evidence that it fully understands the potential risks to tenants.

RSH also found serious failings in Runnymede BC's approach to rent setting for some homes. The council has developed an improvement plan and is working to address this serious failure. 

At the City of London Corporation, RSH identified serious failings in the corporation delivering the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard, which had been self-referred prior to the inspection.

RSH found:

• Large numbers of outstanding remedial actions arising from electrical safety checks.
• More than 1,000 overdue fire safety actions, some of which are high risk and have been overdue for over a year.
• 18% of homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard and based on current plans the Decent Homes Standard will not be met in all homes until 2035.

At Rugby BC, RSH found serious failings delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed to comply with the Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

Prior to the inspection Rugby BC made a self-referral to RSH after a third-party assessment highlighted issues relating to the accuracy of repairs information.

RSH found:

• Rugby BC commissioned stock condition surveys for 86% of its homes but only holds partial data so cannot fully analyse the results.
• It reports that 99.54% of homes meet the Decent Homes Standard, though this has not been verified against the survey information.
• The council identified 800 homes with Electrical Installation Condition Reports over five years old – and 600 homes without a smoke alarm.

Each of the local authorities is engaging constructively with RSH to address the failings and weaknesses identified.

Willow Tree Housing Partnership Limited has an upgraded consumer grade to C2 and confirmed governance grade of G2 and financial viability grade of V2. This is the first time a housing association has moved up from a C3 to a C2 grade.

Christian Action (Enfield) Housing Association (CAHA) Limited's was upgraded to from G3/V3 to G2/V2 for governance and viability as a result of the landlord improvement plan it agreed with RSH.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said: “Our inspections continue to highlight significant gaps in some landlords' understanding of tenants and their homes, reinforcing the need for accurate, up‑to‑date information to ensure safe, decent housing.

“We will continue to hold landlords to account, and drive continuous improvement, to ensure tenants live in good quality homes and receive effective services.”

Other judgements published today are:

• Bromford Flagship Livewest Ltd – interim judgement – G1/V1 assessed and unchanged
• Magna Housing Limited – reconfirmed governance grade of G1 and financial viability regrade to V2.
• North Northamptonshire Council and Westmorland and Furness Council – both received a consumer grading of C2 following first inspections.
• Yorkshire Housing Limited – first consumer grade C1 and reconfirmed governance grade of G1 and financial viability grade of V2.

RSH is also removing a Regulatory Notice for London Borough of Greenwich.

Notes to editors

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. More information about RSH's approach is available in its document Reshaping Consumer Regulation.

2. More information about RSH's responsive engagement, programmed inspections and consumer gradings is also available on its website.

3. RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes. It does this by setting standards and carrying out robust regulation focusing on driving improvement in social landlords, including local authorities, and ensuring that housing associations are well-governed, financially viable and offer value for money. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.

4. Where two or more existing landlords merge or a landlord undergoes what we judge to be a significant constitutional change or restructure, we may issue an interim regulatory judgement. This is so that there is an indicative public regulatory judgement of how well the landlord may be delivering the outcomes of our standards.

5. RSH carries out stability checks on all housing associations, and other private registered providers, who own 1,000 homes or more. The stability checks are a yearly exercise. We look at the financial information PRPs have submitted to us (including their most recent business plan and annual accounts) and consider if there are any risks which might result in a change to their financial viability or governance gradings.  The checks do not include local authorities because our Governance and Financial Viability Standard does not apply to them.