Decision

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Limited (4607) - Regulatory Judgement: 14 January 2026

Updated 14 January 2026

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer		Not assessed yet
Governance	G2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.	Assessed and unchanged	January 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	January 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Limited (RBH) following a stability check completed in January 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G2 and a financial viability grade of V2.

Summary of the decision

Based on the relevant information and evidence we reviewed in carrying out the stability check, our judgement is that RBH 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 RBH.

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grade is required. RBH’s governance grade remains G2.

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

The governance and financial viability grades for RBH were last updated in March 2025 following a responsive engagement to issue a governance grade of G2 and a financial viability grade of V2.

How we reached our judgement

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

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

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

Governance – G2 – January 2026

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 March 2025 following responsive engagement with RBH. Below are the findings in that judgement about RBH’s delivery of our governance requirements.

RBH was downgraded to G3 in December 2022 following material concerns over its risk management, internal controls framework and the capacity of its board to ensure the delivery of the outcomes of the regulatory standards.

We have assurance that RBH’s governance arrangements now support the organisation to meet its strategic objectives and the associated outcomes of our standards, however RBH still needs to improve some aspects of its governance to support continued compliance.

RBH has completed a governance restructure, introducing a new Customer Services Committee, which includes tenant members, that will oversee and drive improvements to RBH’s repairs service, tenant engagement activities, and learning from complaints. It has revised its rules to rebalance the roles of the group board and the representative body, giving more clarity on the roles and responsibilities of each. Board and committee recruitment has addressed skills gaps in customer services and repairs. RBH has reviewed and improved its approach to risk management, revising its strategic risk register to give the board appropriate oversight of the key risks facing the business and the controls in place to manage them.

As a result of the governance improvements, RBH has an improved understanding of the condition of its homes and through the information it collects and holds on its homes, is delivering targeted damp and mould works and enhancing its approach to repairs and complaints. Further planned changes to RBH’s mechanisms for tenant engagement and improving the breadth of information it holds about the diverse needs of its tenants will continue to shape RBH’s service delivery and improve outcomes for tenants.

RBH needs to continue to embed the improvements made to its risk management and internal controls framework, including further strengthening data quality across the organisation. Work is underway to further refine RBH’s risk appetite, including the articulation of strategic risks, and to improve the links between the operational and strategic risk registers.

We continue to actively engage with RBH to monitor its progress in improving aspects of its governance arrangements.

Viability – V2 – January 2026

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

RBH’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. It has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place to support its financial plans, and forecasts ongoing compliance with financial covenants. It must continue to manage its treasury arrangements closely in the medium term, to ensure sufficient liquidity is available at all times.

RBH is investing in improving its homes, alongside delivering a large-scale regeneration project, with significant levels of uncertainty, that requires significant capital investment. RBH also forecasts to dispose of homes through the Right to Buy/Acquire schemes which support the delivery of its plan. These activities give rise to material risks that RBH needs to continue to manage.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

According to the 2025 statistical data return RBH owns 12,275 homes in the local authority area of Rochdale.

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