Watford Community Housing Trust (L4495) - Interim Regulatory Judgement: 26 August 2026
Updated 26 August 2026
Applies to England
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Our Judgement
| Grade/Judgement | Change | Date of assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | Not assessed yet (as the merged entity) | ||
| Governance | G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements. |
Interim grading | August 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. |
Interim grading | August 2026 |
Reason for publication
Thrive Homes Limited (Thrive) merged with Watford Community Housing Trust (Watford Community Housing) following a transfer of engagements from Thrive to Watford Community Housing on 1 June 2026. Following the merger on 1 June 2026, Watford Community Housing began using the trading name, Chime Housing.
We are publishing an interim regulatory judgement for Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing).
This interim regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V2.
Prior to this interim regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Watford Community Housing were last updated in November 2025 following a stability check, which confirmed a G1 grade for governance and a V1 grade for financial viability. Watford Community Housing was previously issued a consumer grade of C1 following a programmed inspection in July 2024.
The grades for Thrive were last updated in December 2025 following a stability check, which confirmed a G1 grade for governance and a V2 grade for financial viability. We have not previously assessed Thrive’s delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards.
Summary of the decision
Our judgement is that Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) meets our governance requirements. Based on the previous grades issued to Watford Community Housing and Thrive and the information we have reviewed, we have concluded an interim governance grade of G1 for Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing).
Our judgement is that Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) meets our financial viability requirements. Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) has sufficient liquidity and strong underlying covenant strength. It has the capacity to withstand a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, but financial performance is expected to remain constrained during the initial years following the merger. This reduces the capacity of Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) to respond to adverse events. Based on the previous grades and the additional information we reviewed, we have concluded an interim financial viability grade of V2 for Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing).
How we reached our judgement
Following the changes to create the merged landlord as described above, we carried out an assessment to consider interim grades for Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing). This is based on the previous grades for Watford Community Housing and Thrive and consideration of a range of information to help us form a judgement about how well the combined entity meets the financial viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
We have not previously assessed Thrive’s delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards, therefore we have not awarded an interim consumer grade for the merged entity.
We will change interim grades to standard grades following a programmed inspection, or when we have carried out an assessment following responsive engagement. We may also change an interim V1 or V2 financial viability grade into a standard grade when a stability check has not identified the landlord as being potentially at a higher risk of failing to deliver the outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
Summary of findings
Governance – Interim Grade – G1 – August 2026
Based on the previous G1 grades for both Watford Community Housing and Thrive, we have concluded an interim governance grade of G1 for Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing).
Viability – Interim Grade – V2 – August 2026
The previous financial viability grade issued to Watford Community Housing was V1 following a stability check completed in November 2025.
The previous financial viability grade issued to Thrive was V2 following a stability check completed in December 2025.
Our judgement about how well Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) is delivering the viability outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard is based on a review of a range of documents provided by Watford Community Housing and Thrive, as well as analysis of information supplied by both landlords in their regulatory returns. Based on the evidence gained through our assessment, we have assurance that Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.
On this basis we have concluded an interim financial viability grade of V2 for Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing).
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
Watford Community Housing reported a turnover of £56.1m for the year ended 31 March 2025 and employed the full-time equivalent of 217 staff. Thrive reported a turnover of £55.3m for the year ended 31 March 2025 and employed the full-time equivalent of 179 staff.
Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) operates across the South East of England. Watford Community Housing (trading as Chime Housing) owns and manages around 11,500 social homes.
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.