Decision

Freebridge Community Housing Limited (L4463) - Regulatory Judgement: 30 September 2026

Updated 30 September 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	September 2026
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	September 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.	Assessed and unchanged	September 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Freebridge Community Housing Limited (Freebridge) following an inspection completed in September 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C2, a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, governance and financial viability grades for Freebridge were last updated in January 2026 following a stability check to confirm a G1 grade for governance and a V2 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 assurance gained during the inspection, based on the evidence provided by Freebridge, we have concluded that there are some weaknesses in Freebridge delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Freebridge.

Our judgement is that Freebridge meets our governance requirements. Freebridge has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it continues to effectively manage the risks of its activities, allowing it to deliver its strategic objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for Freebridge.

Our judgement is that Freebridge meets our financial viability requirements. Freebridge’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Freebridge has an adequately funded business plan with sufficient security in place and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants. However, due to a significant increase in investment in its existing homes, Freebridge has a weakened forecast financial performance and reduced capacity to respond to adverse events. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for Freebridge.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Freebridge 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 Customer Insight Panel, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Freebridge including its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Freebridge.

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – September 2026

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, Freebridge provided evidence-based assurance that it keeps an accurate and up to date record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys at an individual property level. This information is used to make decisions when planning future investment to maintain and upgrade its homes.

Freebridge is significantly increasing the level of investment in its existing homes and faces practical challenges in the delivery of required energy efficiency improvements. Freebridge has mitigations in place but needs to continue to explore options to ensure this programme of works is delivered. We will continue to engage with Freebridge as it looks to strengthen its approach.

During the inspection, we identified weaknesses in Freebridge being able to deliver an effective, efficient and timely repairs and planned maintenance service, with recurring backlogs of repairs. Freebridge has already put plans in place to reduce the current backlog, but further improvements are required to ensure the volume of overdue repairs is reduced and that the improvements made are sustainable.

During the inspection, we gained assurance that Freebridge is meeting its legal health and safety requirements supported by a programme of external expert reviews. We identified some weaknesses in its management of asbestos safety which are already being addressed by Freebridge.

Freebridge has demonstrated that there are appropriate systems in place to meet the legally required timescales for the investigation and repair of significant and emergency hazards where access is permitted. Freebridge needs to continue to improve its no access framework to ensure potential hazards are being investigated and assessed as quickly as possible.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, we gained assurance that Freebridge provides a wide range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services, and that this engagement has led to changes in core services. We saw evidence that Freebridge provides an appropriate level of service and performance information to support effective scrutiny over its delivery of services.

We have assurance that Freebridge is delivering a fair, effective and prompt complaints service and has processes in place to learn from complaints, though this is a new approach and needs time to embed.

We saw evidence that Freebridge treats its tenants with fairness and respect. Freebridge holds extensive information about its tenants and uses this when it is designing and delivering services. Freebridge needs to ensure it can evidence how it uses this information to tailor its services to individual needs.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, there are weaknesses in  Freebridge’s approach to deterring and tackling anti-social behaviour. Freebridge had already self-identified these weaknesses and has an improvement plan in place. The plan will need to be completed to ensure that better outcomes are delivered for its tenants.

We have assurance that Freebridge is delivering against the outcomes of the Tenancy Standard and lets its homes in a fair and transparent way in co-operation with local authorities. Freebridge also supports tenants to sustain their tenancies through the use of a tenancy support fund.

We will continue to actively engage with Freebridge to monitor its progress in improving its delivery of the outcomes of our Consumer Standards.

Governance – G1 – September 2026

Based on evidence obtained from the inspection, we gained assurance that Freebridge’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risks and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its strategic objectives.

We gained assurance that there are clear roles and responsibilities within Freebridge’s leadership and governance structure, and there is evidence that the relationship between its board and committees is working in line with its delegations to strengthen assurance in key areas of risk and compliance. Board member skills, experience and knowledge are aligned to the activities of the organisation and are appropriate to manage the strategic challenges that Freebridge faces.

Freebridge has a clear corporate strategy and business plan that has recently been reviewed and updated. There are arrangements in place for reporting on strategic delivery, oversight of financial risks and progress against improvement plans. Freebridge demonstrated an awareness of the areas it needs to improve to fully deliver the outcomes required by the consumer standards, and has increased investment in responsive repairs, capital works programmes and data and IT transformation.

Strategic value for money is at the forefront of Freebridge’s corporate strategy, and we have assurance that Freebridge actively considers value for money in its decision making. Freebridge has recently established a jointly owned cost sharing vehicle with a view to achieving significant savings through the sharing of services. Freebridge will need to continue to review strategic options for the delivery of its programme of energy efficiency improvements to ensure it meets future legislative requirements.

An appropriate risk management and control framework aligned with the activities of the organisation is in place. Freebridge’s board actively seeks and gains appropriate levels of assurance across a range of areas aligned to its stated risk appetite, including from third parties. We have assurance that Freebridge’s board is responsive and robust in its challenge around performance to achieve better outcomes for its tenants.

Freebridge completed an acquisition of 702 homes from another Registered Provider in April 2025. We have assurance that the financial risks to this transaction were effectively managed and that the acquisition has furthered the growth and value for money strategic objectives of the landlord.

Viability – V2 – September 2026

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection, we have assurance that Freebridge’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Freebridge has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security to support its plans and is forecast to remain compliant with its financial covenants.

Freebridge is significantly increasing investment in its existing homes. This has weakened forecast financial performance and reduced capacity within the business plan, with interest cover remaining its most restrictive covenant. The landlord remains forecast to comply with its financial covenants. While forecast covenant compliance is not dependent on planned efficiency savings or property sales, delivery of planned efficiencies remains important to improving operating margins and maintaining resilience to downside risks.

Stress testing shows resilience to a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Freebridge has identified a range of timebound mitigation strategies to protect liquidity and maintain covenant compliance.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Freebridge owns 7,360 social homes in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and North Norfolk.

At 31 March 2026 Freebridge employed 220 full-time equivalent staff, with a turnover of £44.1m.

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

Related documents

• Decent Homes Standard