Decision

Raven Housing Trust Limited (L4334) - Regulatory Judgement: 26 November 2025

Updated 26 November 2025

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.	Based on previous assessment	April 2025
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	November 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.	Assessed and unchanged	November 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Raven Housing Trust Limited (Raven) following a stability check completed in November 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V2. Raven has a consumer grade of C1 from a planned inspection completed in April 2025.

Summary of the decision

Based on the relevant information and evidence we reviewed in carrying out the stability check, our judgement is that Raven 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. We have therefore concluded the landlord’s grade is unchanged and issue a V2 grade for Raven.

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grade is required. Raven’s governance grade remains G1.

This regulatory judgement is based on a stability check which does not include a reassessment of Raven’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the landlord’s most recent consumer, governance and viability grades were C1, G1 and V2, which were issued in April 2025 following an inspection.

During the inspection, we considered all four of the consumer standards: the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, the Safety and Quality Standard, the Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a board meeting, attended a Customer Voice panel, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Raven and its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Raven.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out a stability check of Raven as part of our annual stability check programme.

Our judgement about how well Raven is delivering the viability outcomes of our Governance and Financial Viability Standard is based on a review of a range of documents provided by Raven, as well as analysis of information supplied by Raven in its regulatory returns.

In confirming Raven’s governance grade as part of the stability check, our work was limited to verifying that the information contained in Raven’s 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

Consumer – C1 – April 2025

Below are the findings of our most recent regulatory judgement about Raven’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards, which assessed Raven’s consumer grade as C1. The regulatory judgement was issued in April 2025 following a programmed inspection.

Raven has a comprehensive and up to date understanding of the condition of its homes at an individual property level that supports its provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for its tenants. During the inspection it provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems for ensuring the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Where stock condition surveys have identified potential hazards it has acted appropriately to make timely improvements and to ensure ongoing compliance with the Decent Homes Standard.  

Raven provides an effective and timely repairs and maintenance service to its tenants and is taking steps to make further improvements and to improve efficiency. A key focus is on the delivery of services which best meet the needs of individual tenants, and Raven has made good progress in understanding the characteristics of tenants in support of this aim. We gained assurance that Raven is fulfilling its statutory landlord Health and Safety obligations and is taking preventative measures to minimise the occurrence of damp, mould and condensation in its homes.  

Raven has ensured the accessibility of support to tenants reporting cases of anti-social behaviour. It is also clear that it has sought to identify the main themes of these reports and has strengthened its processes accordingly. We saw evidence that homes are let in a fair and transparent way and that Raven provides services that help tenants to sustain their tenancies.    

Raven has sought and applied feedback from its tenants to improve the information that it holds regarding tenant characteristics. This will help it to deliver services which take account of diverse needs and build upon the work that it has already done to provide information in multiple formats and languages. Raven has used the views and priorities of tenants to inform its strategic direction and to co-design services, and it publishes information in such a way as to enable adequate scrutiny of its performance. Raven’s Customer Voice Panel provides a forum where tenants can work alongside the board and executive team to highlight areas for improvement and to assess Raven’s performance. 

Where complaints arise Raven has demonstrated that it responds promptly and that it uses the intelligence gained to plan improvement actions. 

Governance – G1 – November 2025

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate that a change in governance grade is required.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, we issued a regulatory judgement in April 2025 following a programmed inspection of Raven. Below are the findings in that judgement about Raven’s delivery of our governance requirements.

Based on evidence gained through the inspection, we gained assurance that Raven’s governance arrangements support the achievement of its strategic objectives and the effective management of key risks. 

Roles and responsibilities within Raven’s leadership structure are clearly defined and understood. The skills and knowledge of board members align with Raven’s strategic direction, and it is prepared to use specialist advice to inform key decisions. The approach to board member recruitment and succession planning is geared towards the retention of appropriate skills. Annual effectiveness reviews and periodic external governance reviews evidence ongoing improvement. The most recent external review took place in 2024, and we saw evidence of the recommendations being implemented as a result. 

Raven has demonstrated that it has an appropriate internal control framework and we gained assurance that risk is a key consideration in the delivery of services. There is board ownership of Raven’s approach to stress testing its financial plans and it has clearly identified mitigations to address emerging risks.  

Viability – V2 – November 2025

Based on evidence gained from the stability check, we have assurance that Raven meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

Raven’s financial plan is consistent with and supports its financial strategy. Raven has an adequately funded financial plan, with sufficient security in place to support its plan and it continues to meet its financial covenants.

However, Raven is increasing its investment in existing stock which weakens its financial performance and impacts upon Raven’s capacity to respond to adverse events. There is also a degree of reliance upon sales proceeds to support covenant headroom.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

According to the 2025 statistical data return Raven owns 6,274 homes in the South East.

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