Decision

South Kesteven District Council (32UG) - Regulatory Judgement: 29 July 2026

Published 29 July 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	July 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for South Kesteven District Council (South Kesteven DC) following an inspection completed in July 2026.

The judgement confirms a consumer grade of C2. 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, we have concluded that that there are some weaknesses in South Kesteven DC delivering the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, and improvement is needed. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for South Kesteven DC.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of South Kesteven DC to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, 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 the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, a meeting of the housing management team and a tenant meeting. We met with involved tenants, officers and councillors, including the leader of the council, the portfolio holder for Housing and the chair of the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by South Kesteven DC.

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

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – July 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. South Kesteven DC currently has up to date records for the majority of its homes including use of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System to assess potential hazards, with a programme in place to complete all remaining surveys and then keep them up to date on a rolling five-year programme. South Kesteven DC is currently reporting that 94% of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard with a planned programme for all of its homes to meet the standard by the end of March 2027. We have seen evidence that South Kesteven DC is managing risks associated with damp and mould, including required timescales to investigate, identify and repair hazards like damp and mould, and this has included setting up a separate damp and mould team.

The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to identify and meet all legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas, and ensure that all required actions arising from legally required health and safety assessments are carried out within appropriate timescales.

South Kesteven DC provided evidence to show that it is meeting the legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas and that performance is reported to members and senior officers regularly to provide assurance.

However, we identified weaknesses in relation to South Kesteven DC’s assurance that compliance information is accurate. A review of compliance carried out by a third party in 2023 made recommendations in this area, and while South Kesteven DC provided some assurance that these recommendations had been addressed, we identified some evidence of incorrect information and no further external assurance has been gained since the 2023 review. South Kesteven DC has plans in place to undertake an internal audit of compliance information this year. We will engage with South Kesteven DC as it addresses this weakness.

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. During the inspection we saw evidence that South Kesteven DC is providing a service that meets regulatory requirements, although it is seeking to deliver further improvements in its repairs service. We saw evidence that repairs performance has been a point of focus for South Kesteven DC over the past two years and that this has centred around the need to reduce a backlog in responsive repairs. South Kesteven DC has taken action to address the backlog and has reported an ongoing reduction in outstanding works. We have seen evidence that the repairs service is accessible and that South Kesteven DC has made improvements to simplify its timescales for repairs to make this clearer for tenants.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to be open and treat tenants with fairness and respect. During the inspection we obtained assurance that South Kesteven DC is committed to treating tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect. However, we identified weaknesses in relation to how it understands and responds to tenants’ diverse needs. While South Kesteven DC collects information about its tenants at the start of each tenancy, this information is incomplete and not routinely updated. We also saw limited evidence of how South Kesteven DC was using the information it holds to assess whether the housing and landlord services deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants. South Kesteven DC has plans to improve its collection of tenant information through a tenant census and we will monitor these plans through our continued engagement.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also requires landlords to provide accessible information so that tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord, and hold their landlord to account. During our inspection, we obtained assurance that South Kesteven DC provides a range of written information related to housing services to tenants, however improvements need to be made in how it provides relevant performance information to support effective scrutiny by tenants. South Kesteven DC has set out plans to improve its reporting of performance data. We will continue to engage with South Kesteven DC as it addresses this weakness.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also requires landlords to take tenants’ views into account when making decisions about the delivery of landlord services. We identified weaknesses in this area. At the time of the inspection, although we saw some evidence of tenant influence on landlord services, evidence of meaningful tenant scrutiny is limited. Improvements are necessary in how South Kesteven DC communicates outcomes related to tenant engagement. South Kesteven DC has an action plan and has put structures in place to enable improved scrutiny and influence in the future. We will continue to engage with South Kesteven DC and monitor these plans as it addresses this weakness.

Through our inspection, we obtained assurance that South Kesteven DC ensures that complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly and that its approach is simple, accessible, and well publicised.

The Neighbourhood and Community Standard requires landlords to work in partnership with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. Through the inspection, South Kesteven DC provided assurance it is meeting the outcomes of the standard. An anti-social behaviour policy is in place, underpinned by procedures that enable delivery of the expected outcomes. Reporting is in place to facilitate effective oversight of this service, and South Kesteven DC has plans to develop this further.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that South Kesteven DC offers tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community and the efficient use of its homes. We also saw evidence that South Kesteven DC meets all applicable legal requirements relating to the form and use of tenancy agreements or terms of occupation.

South Kesteven DC had identified some weaknesses prior to inspection and had put plans in place to address these. We will continue to engage with South Kesteven DC as it develops and delivers its improvement plans and to seek assurance that there are improved outcomes for tenants.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

South Kesteven DC owns and manages around 6,000 social homes in Lincolnshire; these include general needs and sheltered housing.

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. 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