Decision

Trent & Dove Housing Limited (L4311) - Regulatory Judgement: 28 October 2026

Updated 28 October 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	October 2026
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	October 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	October 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Trent & Dove Housing Limited (Trent & Dove) following an inspection completed in October 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, the governance and financial viability grades for Trent & Dove were last updated in November 2025 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 evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, it is our judgement that there are some weaknesses in Trent & Dove delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard, Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, and Neighbourhood and Community Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Trent & Dove.

Our judgement is that Trent & Dove meets our governance requirements. Trent & Dove 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 and charitable objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for Trent & Dove.

Our judgement is that Trent & Dove meets our financial viability requirements and has the capacity to manage a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Trent & Dove has access to sufficient liquidity, adequate funding in place and is meeting its covenant requirements. However, financial pressures arising from increased investment requirements in existing homes and delivery of its development programme have reduced its capacity to respond to adverse events. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for Trent & Dove.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Trent & Dove 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 Committee meeting, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Trent & Dove including with its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Trent & Dove.

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – October 2026

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate, up-to-date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes that reliably informs the provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for tenants, and to ensure that tenants’ homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard. During our inspection, Trent & Dove evidenced that it has a comprehensive understanding of the condition of its homes. This enables Trent & Dove to maintain the quality of its homes, demonstrate compliance with the Decent Homes Standard and manage its landlord health and safety responsibilities. We saw evidence that Trent & Dove is taking a proactive approach to identify, investigate and repair hazards like damp and mould and has effective arrangements in place to support compliance with legislative requirements.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to provide information about their services, as well as performance information to enable effective scrutiny by tenants. Trent & Dove provides meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence service delivery, decision-making and scrutiny of its performance. Tenants are provided with accessible information about its services and the outcomes being delivered.

We also saw evidence that homes are allocated and let in a fair and transparent way and that Trent & Dove supports tenants to maintain their tenancies.

However, we identified areas for improvement across elements of the Safety and Quality, Transparency, Influence and Accountability, and Neighbourhood and Community Standards, with improvement needed in some core landlord services.

The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to provide an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible. Deteriorated repairs performance resulted in a backlog of routine repairs that peaked in July 2025, alongside lower tenant satisfaction. Trent & Dove implemented an improvement programme in August 2025, and performance has started to improve but it is too early to conclude whether this will deliver the sustained improvement required. Tenant feedback and scrutiny activity also identified concerns about the quality and consistency of the grounds maintenance service. Although Trent & Dove is taking steps to improve service delivery, we do not have sufficient assurance that the required outcomes are being achieved.

We also found weaknesses in the handling of complaints and in Trent & Dove’s ability to demonstrate that it is taking prompt and appropriate action in response to anti-social behaviour incidents, alongside a decline in tenant satisfaction with both services. Additionally, issues with data quality in relation to both anti-social behaviour and complaints, and insufficient detail in the reporting of anti-social behaviour, further limited assurance that the intended outcomes are being achieved. Steps have been taken to address these issues, and there are early signs of improvement, but it is not yet possible to assess whether these actions will deliver the expected outcomes.

We saw evidence that Trent & Dove treats tenants with fairness and respect and that it tailors services to meet individual needs. However, tenant information is not used consistently across its services to assess whether it is delivering fair and equitable outcomes, including in the handling of complaints and anti-social behaviour.

Trent & Dove recognises these issues and has plans in place to address them. We will continue to engage with Trent & Dove while it implements these improvements.

Governance – G1 – October 2026

During the inspection, we saw evidence that Trent & Dove’s board provides effective leadership, challenge and oversight. We gained assurance that governance arrangements enable Trent & Dove to effectively manage risks, oversee its activities and deliver its strategic objectives.

The board has a good understanding of the strategic trade-offs involved in balancing investment in existing homes, development ambitions and long-term financial resilience. We observed constructive challenge and effective scrutiny and found that decision-making is supported by appropriate information and external advice where specialist expertise is required.

Trent & Dove operates a mature risk management framework, with strategic risks aligned to its objectives and subject to regular review. The board maintains effective oversight of development activity and subsidiary operations and has established arrangements to monitor risks associated with development delivery, contractor performance and market conditions.

We found evidence that internal audit, external review and ongoing self-assessment provide assurance over the effectiveness of governance, risk management and internal controls. Trent & Dove has demonstrated its ability to identify areas for further improvement and take appropriate action, including in response to its most recent external governance review.

Viability – V2 – October 2026

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection, we have assurance that Trent & Dove meets the financial viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

Trent & Dove has the financial capacity to deliver its strategic objectives and benefits from strong liquidity and sufficient security to access additional funding if needed. It is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants under a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, supported by credible mitigation strategies.

The board maintains effective oversight of financial performance, treasury risks, covenant compliance and stress testing, and recognises the importance of managing the financial pressures associated with investment in its existing homes alongside its development programme to ensure continued compliance with the Governance and Financial Viability Standard. 

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Trent & Dove owns around 6,800 social homes across East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. It has two wholly owned unregistered subsidiaries, one of which is dormant.

During 2025/26, Trent & Dove employed around 223 full-time equivalent staff and generated a group turnover of £42.4m.

Trent & Dove plans to develop 1,398 homes by 2035/36.

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