Decision

Lancaster City Council (30UH) - Regulatory Judgement: 12 August 2026

Published 12 August 2026

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.	First grading	August 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Lancaster City Council (Lancaster CC) following an inspection which was completed in August 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2. 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 provided during the inspection, our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in Lancaster CC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the outcomes in the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Lancaster City Council.

How we reached our judgement

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

During the inspection we observed a meeting of Lancaster CC’s Council Housing Advisory Group. We also observed a Tenants’ Voice Meeting. As part of the inspection, we met with engaged tenants, officers, and the leader of the council who is also the cabinet member for housing. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Lancaster CC.

Our regulatory judgement is based on a review of all the information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information received from Lancaster CC in its regulatory returns and other regular engagement activity.

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – August 2026

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. Lancaster CC has provided assurance that it has accurate, up-to-date and evidenced information on 90% of its homes through surveys on the condition of its homes and has plans in place to reach 100% by December 2026. It reported that 100% of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard.

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to identify and meet all legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. We have assurance that Lancaster CC is meeting its obligations in relation to landlord health and safety compliance.

The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to provide an effective, efficient and timely repairs service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible. Through the inspection we saw evidence that Lancaster CC is broadly delivering repairs in a timely way for its tenants, however we found that there is a backlog of repairs. Lancaster CC has a plan in place to complete most of the overdue repairs by the end of November 2026, and we will continue to engage with the council as it addresses this.   

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 and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We gained assurance that Lancaster CC works proactively with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate crime in the neighbourhoods where it provides homes, including using a range of tools and responses. There are a number of ways for tenants to report anti-social behaviour and hate crime, and Lancaster CC has policies in place setting out its approach to managing incidents. Lancaster CC has adopted a triple track approach to prevention, intervention and enforcement and prioritises early intervention, alongside enforcement action where behaviour persists or escalates.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Lancaster CC offers tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of its accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of its homes.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard sets out that landlords must treat tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect and take action to deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants. Throughout the inspection, Lancaster CC demonstrated a respectful and positive culture towards tenants, and engaged tenants told us that they felt listened to and valued. However, we have limited assurance that Lancaster CC fully understands the diverse needs of tenants as it does not have comprehensive information about the characteristics and diversity of its tenants. This restricts its ability to deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants. Lancaster CC uses the information it has at an individual level to prioritise households with vulnerabilities, but it was not able to evidence that diverse needs inform overall decision making and service design. Lancaster CC acknowledges that this is an area of weakness and has plans in place to address this. We will engage with Lancaster CC as it develops its approach.  

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also requires landlords to provide accessible information so that tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord 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. Lancaster CC offers a range of opportunities for tenants to get involved although we found some of these arrangements are not yet fully embedded or developed to deliver independent challenge or to influence decision making at this time. This is an area of weakness that Lancaster CC will need to continue to progress and develop. Through our ongoing engagement with Lancaster CC, we will seek assurance that changes have been embedded and improved outcomes are being delivered for tenants.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also sets out that landlords must ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly. We saw evidence that tenants can easily make a complaint, and we found that Lancaster CC analyses and learns from complaints and has plans in place to improve tenants’ engagement in this area by the end of March 2027. However, we did find that responses to complaints had not always been timely, and Lancaster CC should continue to focus on delivery in this area.   

Lancaster CC has engaged constructively with us throughout the inspection process, has demonstrated that it understands the issues it needs to address, and is already taking action towards rectifying the weaknesses identified. We will continue to engage with Lancaster CC as it works to address the issues set out in this judgement.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Lancaster CC owns and manages around 3,500 social 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. 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