Transparency data

RSH Board minutes - 19 May 2026 (accessible version)

Updated 11 August 2026

Applies to England

Public minutes of the Board Meeting

on Tuesday 19 May 2026 MS Teams

Members present

• Bernadette Conroy
• Chair Chan Kataria
• Dave Cassidy
• Deborah Gregory
• Geoff Smyth
• John Liver
• Kalpesh Brahmbhatt
• Robert Light
• Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs

Officers in attendance

• Angela Holden - Director of Regulatory Engagement (LARPs)
• Emma Tarran - Senior Assistant Director, Head of Legal & Company Secretary
• Kate Dodsworth - Chief of Regulatory Engagement
• Karen Doran - Director of Regulatory Engagement (PRPs)
• Jonathan Walters - Chief Executive
• Rob Holroyd - Senior Assistant Director, Investigation & Enforcement
• Will Perry - Director of Strategy
• Yetunde Komolafe - Assistant Director: Deputy Head of Legal
• John O’Mahony - Assistant Director Corporate Services

• Jim Bennett - Assistant Director for Policy, Strategy & Impact

• Minutes - Amber Gaskell

1. Welcome and apologies

01/05/26 BC welcomed everyone to the meeting. There were apologies from officers Harold Brown and Richard Peden.

2. Declarations of Interest

02/05/26 No new declarations of interest.

3. Minutes of last meeting

03/05/26 The confidential and public minutes from 21 April 2026 were agreed as accurate and can be finalised.

4. Matters arising

04/05/26 The updates against actions were noted, with all outstanding MA complete and to be closed.

5. Forward planner

05/05/26 Members considered and noted the forward planner.

6. Chair’s update

06/05/26 BC updated the Board as to:
• Chief Exec: JW is now 3 weeks into his new role, and the news of his appointment has been well received by the sector.
• Kings Speech: This will be covered in JW’s update, as there were a few items about housing reform included in the King’s Speech.
• Renters Rights Act: Key provisions of this legislation came into force on 1st May 2026. This will have greater impact on private sector landlords but long term this could change the dynamics of the housing sector.

07/05/26 DG gave an update and overview to all Members and Executive on the NRC single item meeting that took place 18 May.

7. Chief Executive’s update (item taken at the end of the meeting)

08/05/26 JW introduced the slides, which were taken as read. He highlighted the following key issues:
• Impact of local elections: the recent local elections may have a longer-term impact as they have resulted in the election of a number of councillors who are new to their roles. RL raised a point about councils with no overall control, which can result in the local authority struggling to make decisions. AH advised that teams are looking at this as part of their portfolio work when working with LARPs. KD added that we have planned LARP briefings in the Summer and there will be new councillors there that will hear us talk about housing regulation.
• Kings Speech: JW gave an overview of the King’s Speech and touched on the Social Housing Bill.
• DG asked for an update on the formal letter from the SoS. JW advised that at present we are pulling together the evidence requested.

8 . Finance & Corporate Services update

09/05/26 JOM introduced the F&CS update. Confirmed the management accounts are for this quarter and the year-end figures are being finalised and will be ready for the annual report. The main thing to raise is there will be a £4m rebate on fees for providers. This is largely due to staffing vacancies. There was a discussion around staffing vacancies and the reasons for these.

10/05/26 Further discussion took place around the fees and the underspend. It was clarified that we cannot overspend our budget, and we cannot retain any funds or carry a surplus over, so there will always need to be some rebate each year, particularly as we always have an allocation for activity such as I&E casework, which might not be spent. There is an acceptance in the sector that any money we do not spend will be returned. It was also confirmed that if we do a rebate, that does not reduce our base level.

11/05/26 DG asked about the 2MS costs, JOM confirmed this has now been resolved as we have an agreement with MHCLG to reduce our desks.

9. Performance & Risk update

12/05/26 Report was noted by all and:
• JL asked for clarity on the status of the People Plan. JOM established it has been formally paused as a stand-alone project, with some parts of the plan still being delivered through BAU. The intention is to look at this again once the corporate centre work has taken place.
• DC advised that he gets information from the ARAC meetings but could more be shared with the wider Board. JOM agreed he would look at what additional material should be shared.
• BC asked about a potential workshop on digital services and capacity. JW offered that Amanda and Sarah could speak to the Board about progress in that area.

JOM to look at additional material to be shared with wider Board

10. Risk Appetite statements

13/05/26 JOM introduced the Risk Appetite statements. These have been in development for a while and went to ARAC last month. They set out the approach for managing risk across the business.

14/05/26 JL asked for board members’ perspectives on the appetite statement and asked JOM what work he’s done since the last ARAC. JOM explained that ‘cautious’ has been changed to ‘moderate’ and some of the appetites amended further to ARAC feedback. DC expressed approval of this.

15/05/26 In response to a question about the risk appetite for legal, ERT explained that we are attempting to capture something multi-faceted in one statement. We are moderate in our risk appetite in the sense that in using our regulatory powers we should be fair, rational and consistent, and act within our powers. This doesn’t mean we are not regulating robustly. DC agreed and cited an instance last year where we approached a threat of legal action very robustly, because we were confident in our decision-making. It was requested that further work be done on this statement to fully articulate our risk appetite.

16/05/26 JL thinks more work needs to be done to use the risk appetite statements as key driver of strategic thinking. BC agreed that these are not just statements and wants assurances they will link in with wider plans. JW confirmed that they will send out a clear message to the organisation about direction of travel. These statements are a starting point for a wider change in practices and way we work. CKa would like feedback from Exec on how this is working in practice. It was agreed we want to drive capacity and have a unified conversation on cultural change, rather than in separate parts.

11. Digital Lessons Learned

17/05/26 JW introduced the paper. Following the digital transition, there has been an internal lessons learnt exercise and an internal audit done; this paper pulls together both findings. There was discussion about the project and the role of the Board and Exec team in ensuring it ran smoothly.

12. Consumer regulation impact

18/05/26 WP introduced the paper. Jim Bennett joined the meeting. Board members agreed this paper was largely positive. SKS asked for clarity on consumers being heard and being able to influence outcomes. JB confirmed this will be a key focus in the work we have commissioned. JL asked who will be ensuring the work from the contractors and other parties will be done. WP explained RAND will lead this. WP clarified that the report is largely for internal purposes.

13. Framework 28

19/05/26 WP took Board members through Framework 28 discussion document. The drafted document incorporates feedback from the skeleton document that was brought to Board in April. MHCLG have also seen the draft and given some suggestions. There was discussion around the draft, and it was agreed by the Board that the document is evolving well, with some specific recommendations emerging from the discussion that will be sent to WP following the meeting.

20/05/26 WP touched on the stakeholder engagement plans; much is planned, including a panel to debate economic regulation with a wide range of stakeholders and a round table at the housing summit in September.

21/05/26 It was agreed that an additional session with the Board might be needed. WP confirmed the available date would be 2nd June 2026 and asked for all further comments by the end of this week.

14. Regulatory Engagement update

22/05/26 AH took the Board through the Regulatory Engagement update. Some key highlights were;
• The quarter has included more RPs in the C1/C2 space.
• Key issues that continue to emerge concern safety and quality and landlords knowing their stock.
• There has been a drop off in self-referrals and a piece of work will be done on this to remind landlords of their responsibilities to self-refer when appropriate.
• There have been more landlords progressing through improvement work.
• AH answered a question about a particular case and explained our approach to seeking assurance about the health and safety issues identified, over a period of a few years. She was asked to think about how this kind of information might be presented in future reports.
• KED highlighted the QS results and the higher than usual number of outliers, which we are focusing on.
• In response to a question, KED confirmed that merger activity is continuing in a similar fashion to that in recent years.

23/05/26 Board asked if we see any themes with referrals and the volume of these. AH explained we have moved to 6 monthly reporting, so we have enough data. Large PRPs get the most referrals but they do have the most tenants. Some small landlords make self-referrals very consciously. KED also advised data is used to drive insight as there are dashboards that show in real time how many referrals have been opened and closed.

24/05/26 There was a discussion about LAs who might have C3s/C4s and how we make a judgement on how seriously they take their grading. AH confirmed consistent work takes place with these providers. Within RE, C3s are subject to intensive engagement. RH confirmed that this is also the case for those providers within the I&E portfolio.

15. Registrations update

25/05/26 Paper taken as read. BC asked if the average times of application to approval can be shared. AH said this is something that can be looked at, but we might not get any helpful trend data, due to the nature of the application process. JL asked if we have seen an increase in the use of AI during the application process. AH advised we have not seen it in this area of the business, although elsewhere it has cropped up. There is no opposition in principle to applicants using AI, but the application still needs to be of good quality and substance and something that the applicant can stand behind. The registrations team do contact applicants who submit poor quality applications and have conversations with them around the process and what it means to be a registered provider.

16. Investigation & Enforcement update

26/05/26 JL recused himself from this agenda item and left the meeting. RH took Board Members through the I&E update. He outlined a few cases that the team have been working on.

RH to share LA comms

17. Private finance update

27/05/26 JL recused himself from this agenda item. Paper taken as read.

18. Any other business|

28/05/25 There was no other business.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 16 June 2026

Workshops

Workshop session took place on:
• The Building Safety Regulator