Social landlords with strong governance are better placed to improve existing homes and build new ones, England's housing regulator has said, as it urged providers to strengthen oversight,
risk management and tenant engagement.
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) said landlords that maintain high-quality data, robust financial planning and clear accountability are best equipped to make use of additional government funding while ensuring tenants live in safe homes.
The conclusions come in the regulator's annual regulatory casework review, published on Tuesday, which draws on inspections and enforcement work involving housing associations, councils and other registered providers over the past year.
The review identifies several areas where landlords should improve, including maintaining accurate information on housing conditions, strengthening systems to identify and resolve safety issues, embedding effective risk management and using data to spot emerging problems before they escalate.
The regulator also said landlords should ensure spending decisions are closely linked to clear strategic objectives, balancing investment in existing homes with plans to deliver new affordable housing. Boards are urged to strengthen oversight of financial performance through rigorous stress testing and improved monitoring of assets and liabilities.
The report highlights the importance of landlords reporting problems to the regulator at an early stage and addressing their underlying causes, while ensuring tenants' views play a greater role in shaping services and strategic decisions.
Kate Dodsworth, deputy chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing, said the sector had a "crucial role" in both increasing the supply of social housing and improving the quality of existing homes.
She said inspections introduced two years ago had shown that tenant safety, financial resilience and value for money all depended on effective governance.
According to Ms Dodsworth, landlords that invest in reliable data, regularly test the resilience of their financial plans and respond quickly to problems are in the strongest position to benefit from additional grant funding and deliver more high-quality social housing.
The regulator said it would continue to hold landlords to account where standards are not met, with tenant safety remaining its highest priority. It added that several providers had improved their governance and consumer ratings over the past year after addressing weaknesses identified through inspections.
The RSH introduced tougher consumer standards and a programme of proactive inspections for larger landlords in April 2024. It also launched a consultation in June on the future of its economic standards as part of a wider discussion on how the sector can deliver more and better social housing.
