Castles & Coasts Housing Association Limited (4858) - Regulatory Judgement: 17 December 2025
Updated 17 December 2025
Applies to England
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Our Judgement
| Grade/Judgement | Change | Date of assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | Not assessed yet | ||
| Governance | G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements. |
Assessed and unchanged | December 2025 |
| 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 | December 2025 |
Reason for publication
We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Castles & Coasts Housing Association Limited (Castles & Coasts) following a stability check and responsive engagement completed in December 2025.
This regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability regrade to V2.
Summary of the decision
Our judgement is that Castles & Coasts meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. However, it needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a viability regrade from V1 to V2 for Castles & Coasts.
From the stability check there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grade is required. Castles & Coasts’ governance grade remains G1.
This regulatory judgement is based on a stability check which did not include an assessment of Castles & Coasts’ delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.
Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Castles & Coasts were last updated in November 2024 following a stability check to issue a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V1.
How we reached our judgement
We carried out a stability check of Castles & Coasts as part of our annual stability check programme.
Our judgement about how well Castles & Coasts is delivering the viability outcomes of our Governance and Financial Viability Standard is based on a review of a range of documents provided by Castles & Coasts, as well as analysis of information supplied by Castles & Coasts in its regulatory returns.
In confirming Castles & Coasts’ governance grade as part of the stability check, our work was limited to verifying that the information contained in Castles & Coasts’ regulatory returns did not appear inconsistent with its existing published governance grade.
Our stability checks do not assess a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.
Summary of findings
Governance – G1 – December 2025
From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate that a change in governance grade is required.
Viability – V2 – December 2025
Based on evidence gained from the stability check and responsive engagement, we have assurance that Castles & Coasts meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard and that its financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Castles & Coasts has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security and forecasts continued compliance with its financial covenants.
Castles & Coasts continues to invest in its existing stock and has committed to delivering business improvements that aim to provide improved outcomes for tenants. These financial pressures, alongside delivery of new homes mean that financial capacity to manage adverse scenarios has reduced.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
According to the 2025 statistical data return Castles & Coasts owns 6,725 homes in the North East and the North West.
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.