Decision

Housing Solutions (L4073) - Regulatory Judgement: 25 March 2026

Updated 25 March 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	March 2026
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	March 2026
Viability	V1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.	Assessed and unchanged	March 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Housing Solutions following an inspection completed in March 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C1, a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V1.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and viability grades for Housing Solutions were last updated in November 2024 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 provided and assurance gained during the inspection we have concluded that overall Housing Solutions is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment we have concluded a C1 grade for Housing Solutions.

Our judgement is that Housing Solutions meets our governance requirements. Housing Solutions provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements. 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 Housing Solutions.

Our judgement is that Housing Solutions meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. Housing Solutions has a strong financial profile, and its stress testing demonstrates that financial capacity is built into its business plan. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V1 grade for Housing Solutions.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection to assess how well Housing Solutions 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, a resident scrutiny panel, held meetings with Housing Solutions and its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Housing Solutions.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information received from Housing Solutions through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C1 – March 2026

From the assurance gained during the inspection, based on evidence provided by Housing Solutions, we have concluded that overall Housing Solutions is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards.

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, Housing Solutions has a good understanding of the condition of its homes and reports strong performance on decency and energy efficiency. We saw evidence that Housing Solutions keeps an accurate record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys and has effective processes, systems and oversight in place for keeping this information up to date. Housing Solutions demonstrated that it uses its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes to make decisions on future investment.

Housing Solutions provided evidence that it is effectively managing damp and mould within its homes. We have assurance that Housing Solutions is complying with the requirements of Awaab’s Law and is prepared for the introduction of further legal requirements. 

Housing Solutions provides a timely, efficient and effective repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service to its tenants and we have assurance that areas of underperformance are addressed effectively. We saw evidence that tenant profile information is used to shape the service with the needs of vulnerable tenants prioritised.

During the inspection, Housing Solutions provided evidence-based assurance that it has effective oversight arrangements in place for ensuring the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Housing Solutions demonstrated that it has a good understanding of its compliance with landlord health and safety requirements.

Housing Solutions evidenced that overall, it has robust arrangements in place on fire safety, including identifying areas of non-compliance, and when issues occur it is proactive in putting plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence. Fire remedial works are required to Housing Solutions’ care homes. We gained assurance that Housing Solutions had immediately assessed the remedial works required in response to intrusive fire risk assessment surveys at all of its care homes and had taken all reasonable steps to ensure tenants were safe in their homes. During the inspection we gained assurance that robust measures to ensure the safety of tenants continue to be in place and delivery of the remedial work is due for completion in 2027. The board receives progress reports on this project at every meeting including assurance on the financial capacity of the business plan to sustain the required remediation expenditure.  

Overall, Housing Solutions is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards in relation to transparency, influence and accountability. The coverage, collection and use of information on the diversity and needs of tenants have been a recent area of improvement which has enhanced service delivery to tenants. Housing Solutions has evidenced that it treats its tenants with fairness and respect and that it provides a wide range of opportunities for tenants to provide scrutiny of and feedback on its services.

Housing Solutions’ board and tenants receive reporting on complaints handling performance and we saw evidence that learning from tenants’ feedback on complaints handling is used to improve its services.

During the inspection, Housing Solutions demonstrated that the views of tenants have influenced how Housing Solutions delivers services, although it acknowledged that improved outcomes for tenants could be more clearly evidenced and reported.

We saw high levels of tenant satisfaction across all service areas and Housing Solutions has demonstrated that it uses performance information and analysis to improve its services and outcomes for tenants.

Governance – G1 – March 2026

During the inspection we saw evidence that Housing Solutions’ governance arrangements allow it to effectively manage its risks and enable clear oversight, control and direction for delivering its strategic objectives.  

Housing Solutions’ board and executive team evidenced that they have the skills and capacity to deliver the organisation’s corporate strategy, and there is a strong performance and reporting framework that supports this. There is a robust risk management and internal controls framework with appropriate board reporting in place to ensure oversight. Assurance on the effectiveness of internal controls is evidenced by Housing Solutions’ programme of internal audits and its approach to stress testing.  

Housing Solutions’ board demonstrated that it provides challenge on performance against its targets and that it actively considers its risk appetite in strategic decision making. We saw evidence that board members’ skills, experience and knowledge are closely aligned with the activities of the organisation. Annual skills appraisals are carried out to manage succession planning and continuous improvement is evidenced through annual effectiveness reviews and in-depth periodic external governance reviews.  

Financial and operational performance reporting to the board across all Housing Solutions’ activities is comprehensive and timely, which supports oversight, risk management and decision making.

We have assurance that strategic decision making is effective, including where opportunities may put pressure on Housing Solutions’ capacity, and ensures robust consideration and challenge of the risks and rewards of competing activities.  

Viability – V1 – March 2026

Our judgement is that Housing Solutions meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. Housing Solutions has a strong financial profile, and its stress testing demonstrates that financial capacity is built into its business plan.

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection, we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that Housing Solutions has demonstrated its financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. We have assurance that Housing Solutions has access to sufficient liquidity, with funding in place to meet business plan requirements until March 2030.  

Housing Solutions’ stress testing is comprehensive and robust and there is evidence of board oversight and ownership. It demonstrates that financial capacity is built into its business plan with strong levels of forecast interest cover covenant headroom.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Housing Solutions currently owns and manages around 6,500 homes mainly in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

Housing Solutions’ homes consist of 46% houses, and 54% flats/bedspaces, including nine residential care homes.

Housing Solutions has 181 full-time employees and reported a turnover of £61m at 31 March 2025. It has a development programme of 175 homes between 2026/2030 comprising general needs rented and low-cost home ownership 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. 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