Decision

Pivotal Housing Association (4747) - Regulatory Judgement: 20 January 2026

Updated 20 January 2026

Applies to England

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Pivotal Housing Association (Pivotal) following enforcement action and ongoing regulatory engagement. We have concluded that there are grounds to propose exercising our power to de-register Pivotal from the register of social housing providers under section 118 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (HRA 2008).

As Pivotal owns fewer than 1,000 social homes, it is a small landlord. We do not issue grades to small landlords and only publish or update regulatory judgements where we consider there to be serious weaknesses or failings in a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.

Summary of the decision

In accordance with section 118(2) of the HRA 2008, we have provided Pivotal with notice, warning it that we are considering removing it from the register pursuant to section 118(1), and the opportunity to make representations to us during the notice period. We shall consider any representation made during this period before reaching a decision on its removal from the register.

We have a statutory duty to maintain the register of social housing providers. Under section 118(1) (aa) of the HRA 2008, we may remove a private registered provider from the register if we think it has failed to meet the standards under section 193, 194 or 194C.

We have concluded that Pivotal has failed to meet the Governance and Financial Viability Standard and has not resolved regulatory concerns following enforcement action and ongoing regulatory engagement. Despite efforts by Pivotal’s board, Pivotal has failed to demonstrate it has effective governance arrangements, an appropriate, robust and prudent business planning, risk and control framework and that it is managing its affairs with an appropriate degree of skill, independence, diligence, effectiveness, prudence and foresight. Pivotal has also failed to demonstrate that it is managing its resources effectively to ensure its viability is maintained while ensuring social housing assets are not put at undue risk. 

How we reached our judgement

This regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during our responsive engagement with Pivotal as well as information provided by Pivotal in its regulatory returns.

This regulatory judgement updates, and is intended to be read in conjunction with, the previous enforcement notice published in April 2025, and the regulatory notice published in March 2021, and is a result of ongoing regulatory engagement with Pivotal.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Pivotal was registered in January 2013 and designated as a not-for-profit provider. It is a company limited by guarantee without share capital and a registered charity. Pivotal report to have 173 units of social housing and 371 units of non-social housing and is classed by us as a small landlord. It operates in the south west of England. Pivotal provides supported housing, typically through lease agreements with institutional investors.

Information regarding turnover and staffing cannot be confirmed as annual accounts for the period ended 31 March 2024 and 2025 are overdue.

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 new 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