Decision

Unity Housing Association Limited (LH3737) - Regulatory Judgement: 25 March 2026

Updated 25 March 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	March 2026
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.	Downgrade	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 Unity Housing Association Limited (Unity) following an inspection completed in March 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C2, a governance grade of G2 and a financial viability grade of V1.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Unity were last updated in December 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 assurance gained during the inspection, based on the evidence provided by Unity, we have concluded that there are some weaknesses in Unity delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Unity.

Our judgement is that Unity meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance, specifically in relation to the effective delivery of Unity’s strategic objectives and the robustness of its mitigation strategies and risk and control framework. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G2 grade for Unity.

Our judgement is that Unity meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. Unity has a strong financial profile, and its stress testing demonstrates that financial capacity is built into its business plan. Unity has provided appropriate assurance that it has access to sufficient liquidity and adequate funding is in place. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V1 grade for Unity.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Unity to assess how well Unity 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 tenant scrutiny group session, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Unity including its non-executive directors, interviewed staff, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by the landlord. 

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – March 2026

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, Unity provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. However, reporting on damp and mould is underdeveloped which limits its board’s assurance that it meets the requirements of Awaab’s Law.

Through the inspection, we gained assurance that Unity keeps an accurate and up to-date record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys and has a process for keeping this information updated. A new asset management system is currently being implemented, and it will take time for Unity to migrate information about the condition of its homes to fully inform its provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for its tenants.

We have limited assurance that Unity’s repairs service is effective, efficient and timely. Unity appointed a new repairs partner in April 2025 and recognises the need to improve the quality of its information on repairs and processes for checking that information is up to date and accurate. It also needs to improve the way it communicates to tenants about the timescales for the completion of repairs. We saw evidence that Unity is consulting on its repairs policy including updating timescales for completion.

We identified weaknesses in Unity’s delivery of the required outcomes of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Improvements are needed in relation to how Unity shares performance information with tenants, including updating relevant policies and ensuring that performance reporting aligns with agreed service standards. We saw evidence that Unity provides tenants with meaningful opportunities for involvement, but these opportunities have been provided inconsistently due to capacity challenges. Unity is aiming to launch a new co-created resident engagement strategy in 2026.

We saw evidence that Unity treats tenants with fairness and respect. Unity uses relevant information obtained through its programme of regular tenancy checks to tailor support services and ensure tenants are living in safe and decent homes. Though Unity’s approach to complaints is accessible, further improvement is required to ensure complaints are addressed promptly.

We gained assurance that Unity is delivering the required outcomes in relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. There is evidence that Unity works with local partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents, and co-operates with relevant partners to promote social, environmental and economic wellbeing in the areas where it provides social housing.

We have assurance that, in relation to the Tenancy Standard, Unity allocates and lets its homes in a fair and transparent way, in co-operation with local authorities, considering the needs of its tenants and prospective tenants. We gained assurance that Unity support tenants to maintain their tenancy and prevent unnecessary evictions.

Governance – G2 – March 2026

Based on evidence gained from the inspection, we have assurance that Unity meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.

We have assurance that Unity has a clear corporate plan that sets out the aims, objectives and intended outcomes for tenants. Unity has faced challenges in delivering its strategic objectives and ensuring consistent performance across service areas largely due to capacity constraints. Although Unity plans to address these resourcing challenges, we have limited assurance that its plans will adequately mitigate the recurrence of these issues and address the resulting fluctuations in service performance and delivery of strategic objectives.

Unity has a well-defined risk management strategy with board appetite for key risks clearly defined and aligned to the strategic plan. We have assurance that the oversight of key risks is robust and overseen by the audit and risk management committee and board. However, we identified weaknesses in the implementation of Unity’s internal controls and assurance framework, which led to a significant backlog of internal audit actions and further improvement is required to strengthen internal audit controls.

We saw evidence that Unity’s board provides strategic scrutiny and challenge. A comprehensive and externally supported board exercise in 2025 resulted in a strengthened board and committee membership, informed by detailed skills mapping. The board is at full complement, and its composition now exceeds skills targets aligned to the organisation’s mission. Unity last completed an external governance review in 2022 which found that its governance arrangements were effective. A further external governance review is planned for 2026.

We have assurance that Unity’s stress testing framework covers a wide range of scenarios and is aligned to its key risks. However, mitigation planning is underdeveloped across the group. Improvements in mitigation strategies are needed so that a comprehensive range of mitigations are quantified and timebound to inform board recovery planning.

We gained assurance that Unity exercises effective financial and operational control over its subsidiaries, and that the protection of social housing assets is considered within decision making and financial arrangements.

Value for money objectives are clearly articulated and embedded within the organisation’s operations. However, Unity could further demonstrate the value for money benefits of some it’s non-core activities.

Viability – V1 – March 2026

Unity continues to meet our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that Unity’s financial plans are consistent with and support the delivery of its strategic objectives. Unity has provided evidence that it has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place to support its financial plans and is forecast to meet its financial covenants under a range of adverse scenarios.

We have assurance that Unity’s board has good oversight of covenant compliance, and there is evidence of strong levels of forecast headroom with no reliance on sales income. 

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Unity owns and manages 1,393 social housing homes in Yorkshire and Humberside

Unity has one committed development of 30 homes expected to be completed in March 2027.

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