Decision

Livv Housing Group (LH4343) - Regulatory Judgement: 24 June 2026

Updated 24 June 2026

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C1 Our judgement is that overall the landlord is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. The landlord has demonstrated that it identifies when issues occur and puts plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence.	First grading	June 2026
Governance	G2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.	Downgrade	June 2026
Viability	V2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.	Regrade	June 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Livv Housing Group (Livv Housing) following an inspection completed in June 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C1, a governance downgrade to G2 and a financial viability regrade to V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Livv Housing were last updated in November 2025 following a stability check to confirm a G1 grade for governance and a V1 grade for financial viability. 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 Livv Housing is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C1 grade for Livv Housing. 

Our judgement is that Livv Housing meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance. Based on this assessment we have concluded a G2 downgrade for Livv Housing.

Our judgement is that Livv Housing has demonstrated it has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 regrade for Livv Housing.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Livv Housing to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability requirements as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During the inspection, 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 a board meeting and Quality Improvement Panel, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Livv Housing including its non-executive directors, interviewed staff, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Livv Housing. 

Our regulatory judgement is based on a review of all of the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information supplied by Livv Housing in its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C1 – June 2026

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, Livv Housing provided evidence that appropriate systems are in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes. We saw evidence that processes are in place to manage damp and mould effectively, and that Livv Housing investigates, identifies and repairs hazards within required timescales.

We saw evidence that Livv Housing keeps an accurate and up-to-date record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys and has a process for keeping this information up to date. Livv Housing uses its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes to make decisions on the planning of future investments to maintain and improve its homes.

Overall, Livv Housing provides an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service and continues to implement actions to further improve the service and outcomes for tenants. Livv Housing demonstrated that it tailors its repairs service to the diverse needs of tenants and prioritises its work accordingly.

We gained assurance that Livv Housing is meeting the Neighbourhood and Community standard, and that it works with relevant partners, including local authorities, police, safeguarding partners and local charities, to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents. It has clear policies in place and an understanding of anti-social behaviour at a neighbourhood level. We also have assurance that Livv Housing has effective arrangements in place to manage domestic abuse through a survivor-informed policy, strong multi-agency working and trained staff.

We saw evidence that Livv Housing is delivering the outcomes of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Livv Housing demonstrated that it treats tenants with fairness and respect. It has a good understanding of its tenants’ vulnerabilities and diverse needs and uses this information to help design and deliver services. There is evidence of meaningful feedback from tenants, and scrutiny from a range of sources including the formal scrutiny panel, with accountability back to tenants on related changes.  

Livv Housing provides an appropriate level of accessible and relevant information to enable tenants to access services, support and advice. We saw evidence that complaints are addressed fairly, promptly and effectively and that Livv Housing is learning from the complaints it receives to improve its services.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, Livv Housing demonstrated that it allocates its homes in a fair and transparent way. It evidenced impactful tenancy sustainability services and demonstrated how the needs of tenants and prospective tenants are considered in the design of tenancy services.

Governance – G2 – June 2026

Based on evidence gained from the inspection, we have assurance that Livv Housing meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.

We have assurance that the board provides strategic scrutiny and challenge. Livv Housing has a well-defined risk appetite and has evidenced that it considers this in its decision making. Board members’ skills, experience and knowledge are aligned to its activities and risk profile. We also have assurance that Livv Housing’s board regularly assesses and reviews its skills and has a structured approach to succession planning.

Livv Housing demonstrated that it exercises effective financial and operational control over its subsidiary and that the protection of social housing homes is considered in its decision making and financial arrangements. We saw evidence that the board proactively reviews its approach to delivering against its purpose and considers alternative methods of delivering its strategic objectives. Livv Housing’s value for money objectives are clearly articulated and embedded within the organisation’s strategy and operations.

During the inspection Livv Housing made a self-referral to us regarding reporting against one of its funders’ covenants, indicative of a weakness in its internal control and assurance framework. Livv commissioned a review to understand the root causes of the error and has gained external assurance that all funder’s requirements during the period were met in practice, and all calculations are now correct.

Livv Housing has a plan to rectify the self-identified error and to strengthen its assurance framework, including reviewing the scope of its internal audits, ensuring there are effective controls to provide assurance that its assets and liability register is up to date, and strengthening its controls over its treasury management. Livv Housing will also need to improve its reporting on covenant performance. Our regulatory engagement with Livv Housing will continue while it progresses with these improvements to its governance arrangements.

We have assurance that Livv Housing’s stress testing covers a wide range of scenarios, is aligned to key business and economic risks, and is subject to appropriate board oversight. Some of these tests need further refinement in the context of reduced financial headroom as does the suite of prioritised mitigations, alongside improvements to Livv Housing’s treasury management strategy and financial oversight.

Our regulatory engagement with Livv Housing will continue while it progresses with improvements to its governance arrangements including in relation to its strategic approach to treasury management.  

Viability – V2 – June 2026

Based on the evidence provided during the inspection we have sufficient assurance that Livv Housing’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Livv Housing has provided evidence that it has an adequately funded business plan and sufficient security in place to support its financial plans.

Livv Housing faces material exposures that it needs to manage. It continues to invest in its existing homes alongside the ongoing development of new homes. This means that its financial performance is weakened, reducing its capacity to manage adverse events.  

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Livv Housing owns 13,176 social homes across the North West of England, with the majority of these in Knowsley. It has one active unregistered subsidiary, Livv Maintenance Limited that manages repair services, and one dormant subsidiary.

In the year ended 31 March 2025, Livv Housing generated a turnover of £82.5m and employed 499 full-time equivalent staff. Livv Housing plans to develop 900 homes over the next three years.

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 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