Decision

Yorkshire Housing Limited (L4521) - Regulatory Judgement: 25 February 2026

Updated 25 February 2026

Applies to England

Our Judgement

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	First grading	February 2026
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	February 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	February 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Yorkshire Housing Limited (YHL) following an inspection completed in February 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C1, a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for YHL were last updated in November 2024 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 assurance gained during the inspection, we have concluded that overall YHL is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C1 grade for YHL. 

Our judgement is that YHL meets our governance requirements. YHL has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it continues to effectively manage risks to the delivery of its strategic objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for YHL.

Our judgement is that YHL meets our financial viability requirements. YHL has sufficient liquidity and continues to forecast compliance with its lenders’ covenants. While it has capacity to withstand a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, it has exposure to financial risks related to its development programme and planned investment in existing homes that it needs to manage. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for YHL.

How we reached our judgement

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

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C1 – February 2026

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, YHL provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place for ensuring the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. YHL demonstrated that its systems accurately record its current position in relation to legal requirements to landlord health and safety, and that YHL has appropriate mechanisms to give its board assurance that controls are operating effectively.

YHL considers the risks related to the type of homes that it owns and manages, including homes in tall buildings. We saw evidence that it receives appropriate expert advice and deploys mitigations while programmed works are planned or underway.  

We saw evidence that YHL keeps an accurate record of the condition of its homes by bringing together information from a range of sources including physical surveys and it has a process to keep this information up to date. YHL uses its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes to inform decisions on the planning of future investments to maintain and improve its homes.

YHL provides an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service across its homes, including where it manages homes on behalf of others. A programme of work has led to improvements in the repairs service that YHL provides and these need to be sustained. We saw evidence that YHL’s approach to repairs is informed by the diverse needs of its tenants, and that it uses tenants’ information to appropriately tailor services and monitor the equitability of the repairs service it provides.  

YHL is delivering the outcomes of the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. We saw evidence that it works in partnership with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where it delivers social housing and uses feedback from tenants to make improvements to its approach.

In line with outcomes expected in the Tenancy Standard, YHL provided evidence-based assurance that it allocates its homes in a fair and transparent way and uses a range of methods to promote tenancy sustainability such as tenancy and money coaching. YHL evidenced it has a range of ways to deter and tackle tenancy fraud.  

We saw evidence of YHL meeting the outcomes in the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. YHL demonstrated where it had listened to tenants’ views and that it offers a range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence its strategies, policies and services. YHL has recently restructured its Customer Insight Committee, which is a sub-committee of the board, while offering several other routes for tenants to engage and deliver scrutiny and we gained assurance that tenant feedback and insight is used to improve service outcomes.

There is evidence that YHL treats its tenants with fairness and respect. YHL uses relevant information to understand the diverse needs of its tenants and communities and there is evidence that it appropriately tailors its services according to these needs. YHL also uses relevant information to provide assurance to the board that services are being delivered in an equitable manner.  YHL provides accessible information to tenants about its services and makes a wide range of performance information available via different formats.

We saw evidence that YHL has made improvements in the way it responds to complaints and concluded that, in general, complaints are addressed fairly, promptly and effectively.  Performance information on complaints is overseen by the board, and a Customer Feedback Panel provides tenant-led scrutiny on how well YHL responds to complaints. We saw evidence that demonstrated that YHL analyses and understands the main themes of complaints and uses this feedback to make improvements in its service delivery.  

Governance – G1 – February 2026

Based on evidence gained through the inspection, we have assurance that YHL’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risks and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives. YHL’s board  appropriately monitors strategic delivery, challenges performance against strategic targets and considers its risk appetite in decision-making. The board is overseeing a business-wide transformation programme and needs to continue to demonstrate that it seeks assurance that risks in the programme are being managed and expected outcomes are being delivered.

We saw evidence that YHL has an established approach to achieving value for money and effectively demonstrated that it has arrangements in place to ensure it makes the most of its available resources.

YHL maintains clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. There is assurance that its board and committees work in line with delegations and that the board periodically reviews the effectiveness of its governance structure.  YHL’s approach to continuous improvement of its governance arrangements is evidenced through annual board member evaluations, internal collective effectiveness reviews and periodic external effectiveness reviews, the most recent of which was completed in 2022. 

Board members’ skills, experience and knowledge are aligned with the activities of YHL and there is a structured approach to succession planning. We saw evidence of this through board observations, meetings with non-executive directors and the executive team, as well as reviewing relevant documents including meeting minutes.

YHL has a risk management and control framework that is aligned to its strategic risks. There is evidence of discussion and appropriate board challenge of the controls deployed to mitigate strategic risks and of the assurance provided that controls are designed and operating effectively which includes the use of risk deep dives. The board, supported by its committees, is active in seeking and gaining appropriate levels of assurance from a range of sources and that outcomes from its assurance activities are used to make improvements to services.

We saw evidence of robust stress testing against the main risks and combinations of risks, with appropriate ownership and scrutiny by board and comprehensively designed mitigations. Board reporting provides sufficient detail for the board to ensure appropriate oversight of YHL’s financial and commercial risks that are part of its structure.  

Viability – V2 - February 2026

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that YHL’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. YHL has provided evidence that it has an adequately funded business plan and is forecast to remain compliant with its financial covenants under a range of adverse scenarios.

YHL plans significant ongoing investment in its current homes to improve quality and efficiency, alongside developing new homes, including for market sale.

The level and timing of planned expenditure will require close management to ensure its financial plans continue to be sustainable. YHL’s forecasts include generating surpluses from new homes developed for sale. While not reliant on these sales, they represent an uncertain cashflow for the organisation and a risk to delivering the planned financial position. We have assurance that YHL has reporting and oversight in place to manage the risks of its development and sales programme.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

YHL operates across Yorkshire and owns around 19,000 social housing homes.

YHL is the only registered entity in the group which includes two wholly owned active subsidiaries. The principal activity of YH Residential Limited (YHR) is the provision of market rent properties and property management. Yorkshire Housing Finance plc is the group’s treasury vehicle.

YHR owns a 20% share of Forge New Homes LLP, a joint venture which provides housing in Yorkshire and North Derbyshire, and a 33% share of Yorkshire Transformation Holdings Limited, which is delivering a Private Finance Initiative through its subsidiary, Yorkshire Transformations Limited.  

At 31 March 2025 YHL’s turnover was £165.4m and it employed 847 full time equivalent staff.

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