Decision

Canterbury City Council (29UC) - Regulatory Judgement: 15 October 2025

Published 15 October 2025

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C3 Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed.	First grading	October 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Canterbury City Council (Canterbury CC) following an inspection completed in October 2025.  

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C3. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, we have concluded that there are serious failings in Canterbury CC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the outcomes in the Safety and Quality Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C3 grade for Canterbury CC.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Canterbury CC to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. We considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed Canterbury CC’s cabinet meeting and a Resident Engagement Panel meeting. We met with tenants, officers, and the councillor who is the portfolio holder for housing. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Canterbury CC.  

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information looked at during the inspection, as well as analysis of information received through routine regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C3 – October 2025

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate, up-to-date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes that reliably informs the provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for tenants and to ensure that tenants’ homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard (DHS). We identified serious failings in relation to this outcome. 

Through our inspection, we saw evidence that Canterbury CC does not have accurate or up-to-date information on the condition of most of its homes. The last stock condition survey of Canterbury CC’s homes was undertaken in 2017-18. That survey did not include a physical internal inspection of every home. Canterbury CC report that it is not assured on the quality of stock data from these surveys and has commenced a full stock condition survey of all homes. At the time of this inspection, only 27.5% of homes had been surveyed. While Canterbury CC has plans to complete surveys for all its stock, it is unable to accurately report the number of homes that meet the DHS. This is a serious failing for Canterbury CC.

The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to identify and meet all legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. While there is evidence that Canterbury CC is meeting some of its statutory requirements, there are serious failings in maintaining performance and completing remedial works to the required levels consistently across all areas, which was also reflected in a recent internal audit of landlord health and safety. Canterbury CC provided assurance that it understands the root causes of the underperformance and is taking action to address this.   

Overall, we gained assurance that Canterbury CC  is delivering an effective repairs and maintenance service. It provided evidence of recent changes made to improve outcomes for tenants, including offering additional appointment times and increased contractor monitoring to ensure quality in delivery. However, we have limited assurance that Canterbury CC provides a transparent and effective adaptations service. Canterbury CC told us it does not have a current adaptations policy. Evidence reviewed shows a number of incomplete adaptations works that are outstanding past their indicative completion date. Prior to our inspection, Canterbury CC had identified it needed to improve its adaptations service and work is underway to address this. We will continue to engage with Canterbury CC to monitor the progress and outcomes from the improvements it is making.

The Neighbourhood and Community Standard requires landlords to work in partnership with appropriate local authority departments, the police and other relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We saw evidence that Canterbury CC deals effectively with ASB in line with its policy and procedures, in partnership with relevant organisations and has acted upon its internal audit findings to improve outcomes for tenants. We also gained assurance that Canterbury CC is working co-operatively with tenants, other public agencies and other landlords to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of shared spaces and increase wellbeing in communities.  However, there are weaknesses in Canterbury CC’s reporting and monitoring of hate-related ASB which requires improvement to be made.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Canterbury CC is offering tenancies or terms of occupation that were compatible with the purpose of its accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and made efficient use of its housing stock. 

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard sets out the outcomes landlords must deliver about being open with tenants and treating them with fairness and respect so that tenants can access services, raise complaints, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account.  It also requires landlords to take tenants’ views into account when making decisions about the delivery of landlord services. We gained assurance that Canterbury CC provides opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise services and that tenant feedback had directly and positively impacted service delivery. It is also currently engaging tenants in the redesign of its tenant engagement and communication strategy. We noted that currently, Canterbury CC cannot be assured of the accessibility of tenant engagement activity as it does not hold complete data about its tenants. Canterbury CC has recognised this weakness where  improvements are needed.

Canterbury CC provided evidence of relevant and accessible information so tenants can use landlord services and broadly understand what to expect from their landlord. However, there are weaknesses in its sharing of service standards for some areas and sharing of regular performance information for tenants in relation to landlord services. At the time of the inspection, Canterbury CC’s repair target timescales were not clearly set out for tenants, and it has not published the number of homes that meet the DHS for two consecutive years. Canterbury CC has recognised the improvements needed and we will continue to work with Canterbury CC as it looks to improve outcomes in this area.

During the inspection, we gained assurance that Canterbury CC is committed to treating tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect. However, there is limited assurance that Canterbury CC has an understanding of the diverse needs of its tenants across all protected characteristics to ensure that its services are accessible and equitable. Canterbury CC has recognised this is an area of weakness and has told us of its intention to expand its tenant data.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also requires landlords to ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively and promptly. There is evidence of Canterbury CC addressing complaints in a fair and effective manner; however, there are weaknesses in the promptness of responses to tenants’ complaints and in the oversight of complaints made directly to contractors by tenants. Canterbury CC had identified the improvements required to respond to complaints in a timely manner and has an improvement plan in place. We will continue to engage with Canterbury CC to monitor the progress and outcomes from the improvements it is making.

Canterbury CC has been engaging constructively with us and has put in a place a programme to rectify these failures, including work to complete stock condition surveying to understand the condition of its homes, completion of outstanding health and safety checks and remedial actions and making improvements to its complaint handling processes. 

We are engaging with Canterbury CC as it continues to address the issues set out in this judgement. Our engagement will be intensive, and we will seek evidence that gives us the assurance that sufficient change and progress is being made, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its improvement programme. Our priority will be that risks to tenants are adequately managed and mitigated. We are not proposing to use our enforcement powers at this stage but will keep this under review as Canterbury CC seeks to resolve these issues. 

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Canterbury CC owns and directly manages 5,124 homes.

Our role and regulatory approach

We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.

We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).

We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord’s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants’ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.

We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.

We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords’ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes.

The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.

For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards

Further information

• Regulating the standards

• Regulatory standards for landlords

Related documents

• Decent Homes Standard