Decision

North Kesteven District Council (32UE) - Regulatory Judgement: 29 April 2026

Updated 29 April 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.	Upgrade	April 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for North Kesteven District Council (North Kesteven DC) following responsive engagement completed in April 2026.

This regulatory judgement upgrades our previous published assessment of North Kesteven DC’s consumer grade from C3 to C2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the consumer grade for North Kesteven DC was last updated in July 2025 following an inspection which concluded a C3 grade.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during responsive engagement we have seen evidence that North Kesteven DC has improved its understanding of the condition of its homes, and its compliance with the Decent Homes Standard.

Our judgement is that some weaknesses remain in North Kesteven DC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement continues to be needed in some areas, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for North Kesteven DC.

How we reached our judgement

We published a regulatory judgement for North Kesteven DC in July 2025 following an inspection to assess how well it was delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards 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 North Kesteven DC’s Executive Board, the Resources and Scrutiny Committee and the Tenants’ Liaison Panel (comprising of tenants and North Kesteven DC officers). We met with tenants, officers, the leader of North Kesteven DC, and the councillors who are the lead members for housing and for complaints. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by North Kesteven DC.

From the evidence-based assurance gained during the inspection, it was our judgement that there was a serious failing in how North Kesteven DC was delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and that significant improvement was required. Based on that assessment, we concluded a C3 grade for North Kesteven DC.

Following the inspection, we undertook responsive engagement with North Kesteven DC that focused on its delivery of an improvement plan to address the serious failing and weaknesses identified, focusing in particular on the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the responsive engagement as well as analysis of information received from North Kesteven DC through routine regulatory returns and other regulatory activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – April 2026

Following the inspection which concluded in July 2025, we engaged with North Kesteven DC on the delivery of its improvement plan. Through this engagement we sought to understand how it was addressing the main issues identified during the inspection. This included a serious failing in its understanding of the condition of its homes at an individual property level based on a physical assessment of all homes and ensuring that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard. During the inspection we saw evidence that most of North Kesteven DC’s homes had received some form of survey in the last five years, including as part of stock condition, damp and mould, or retrofit programmes. However, a requirement of meeting the Decent Homes Standard is the absence of category 1 Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards. At the time of the inspection, only one third of North Kesteven DC’s homes had a HHSRS assessment in place, and it could not demonstrate that its homes were free from category 1 hazards as the Decent Homes Standard requires. We concluded that this represented a serious failing in delivering the required outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard.

Through our responsive engagement, we now have assurance that North Kesteven DC has a more comprehensive understanding of the condition of its homes, allowing it to identify required investment to ensure tenants live in good quality, well maintained and safe homes, and evidence that it is meeting the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard. However, North Kesteven DC needs to do further work to ensure that homes remain free of category 1 hazards. We intend to closely monitor its progress on this through our ongoing regulatory engagement.

Through the inspection in 2025 we saw evidence that North Kesteven DC is meeting the legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. However, we identified that North Kesteven DC needed to improve the reporting of health and safety compliance so that councillors and tenants have effective oversight and scrutiny of performance. This includes reporting on asbestos safety, health and safety remedial actions, and the installation of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. We have seen evidence that North Kesteven DC has begun work to address these concerns, and we will continue to engage with North Kesteven DC to gain assurance as it embeds its improved reporting framework.

The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to provide an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible. The inspection in 2025 found that emergency repairs were generally delivered in line with service standards, but North Kesteven DC was not meeting its targets for routine repairs or targets for bringing empty properties back into use. North Kesteven DC has plans to address the underperformance, and while we have seen improvement in these areas, we will continue to seek assurance that progress against identified actions continues at an appropriate pace and scale, and that this leads to improved outcomes for tenants.

The Neighbourhood and Community Standard requires landlords to work in partnership with relevant organisations to promote positive outcomes for tenants. Through the inspection in 2025 we saw evidence that North Kesteven DC works effectively with partner agencies, including the police and charities, on a range of interventions to deter and tackle antisocial behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where it provides its homes. We saw evidence that North Kesteven DC responds to reports of antisocial behaviour in accordance with its policy and has acted on the recommendations from reviews of this service to improve outcomes for tenants.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, through the inspection in 2025 we saw evidence that North Kesteven DC 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 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. Through the inspection in 2025 we saw evidence that North Kesteven DC provided relevant and accessible information to tenants about its landlord services. However, at the time of the inspection, we saw limited evidence of tenant scrutiny leading to meaningful changes or influencing services. North Kesteven DC had identified this as an area of focus and, while this remains an area of weakness, we have seen evidence of scrutiny and other engagement opportunities for tenants increasing. We will continue to engage with North Kesteven DC as it embeds its approach.

During the inspection in 2025, we gained assurance that North Kesteven DC is committed to treating tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect. We also saw evidence that North Kesteven DC has some understanding of the diverse needs of its tenants, but it needs to undertake more work to improve the information it holds about its tenants. This will enhance North Kesteven DC’s ability to tailor services to tenants’ individual needs and provide assurance that it is delivering fair and equitable outcomes. North Kesteven DC needs to make further, continued improvements to address this weakness and has set out plans to improve the amount and quality of information it holds about its tenants.

The inspection in 2025 also found some weaknesses in North Kesteven DC’s complaints handling service. It is not fully compliant with the Housing Ombudsman Service’s Complaint Handling Code, and it could not fully evidence how learning from complaints positively impacts on its service. North Kesteven DC has an action plan in place to address these concerns, and we have seen improvements in this area. We will continue to engage with North Kesteven DC as it completes the delivery of its action plan and will seek assurance that outcomes for tenants are improved.

North Kesteven DC has worked constructively with us through our engagement, and we will continue to engage with the council as it addresses the remaining weaknesses summarised in this regulatory judgement. We continue to actively engage with North Kesteven DC to monitor its progress in improving its delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Background to the judgement 

About the landlord 

North Kesteven DC is located in Lincolnshire and owns around 3,900 social housing 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