Decision

The Abbeyfield Society (H1046) - Regulatory Judgement: 29 April 2026

Updated 29 April 2026

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer		Not assessed yet
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.	Assessed and unchanged	April 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	April 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for The Abbeyfield Society, trading as Abbeyfield Living Society (Abbeyfield), following a stability check completed in April 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G2 and a financial viability grade of V2.

Summary of the decision

Based on the relevant information and evidence we reviewed in carrying out the stability check, our judgement is that Abbeyfield meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. However, it needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. We have therefore concluded the landlord’s grade is unchanged and issue a V2 grade for Abbeyfield.

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grade is required. Abbeyfield’s governance grade remains G2.

This regulatory judgement is based on a stability check which does not include an assessment of Abbeyfield’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Abbeyfield were last updated in January 2025 following a stability check to issue a governance grade of G2 and a financial viability grade of V2.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out a stability check of Abbeyfield as part of our annual stability check programme.

Our judgement about how well Abbeyfield is delivering the viability outcomes of our Governance and Financial Viability Standard is based on a review of a range of documents provided by Abbeyfield, as well as analysis of information supplied by Abbeyfield in its regulatory returns.

In confirming Abbeyfield’s governance grade as part of the stability check, our work was limited to verifying that the information contained in Abbeyfield’s regulatory returns did not appear inconsistent with its existing published governance grade.

Our stability checks do not assess a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Summary of findings

Governance – G2 – April 2026

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate that a change in governance grade is required.

We continue to actively engage with Abbeyfield to monitor its progress in improving aspects of its governance arrangements.

Viability – V2 – April 2026

Based on evidence gained from the stability check, we have assurance that Abbeyfield meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

Abbeyfield’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy.  Abbeyfield has an adequately funded business plan, and sufficient liquidity is in place. 

Abbeyfield continues to invest significantly in its existing homes and these pressures, alongside projected sales receipts from fixed asset disposals, mean its capacity to respond to adverse financial events is reduced.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

According to the 2025 statistical data return Abbeyfield owns 991 homes in 29 local authority areas across all regions of England.

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