East London-based HA placed on RSH’s gradings under review list
The English regulator has placed a c.3,000-home social landlord based in east London on its gradings under review list.
Picture: Getty
Sharelines
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) said it had added Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) to the list while it investigates matters that may impact the association’s compliance with the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
The current published grades for THCH, which owns or manages 3,192-homes, are G1/V2.
The provider was upgraded from G2 to G1 in March 2020, having previously returned to governance compliance in December 2018 after making improvements to its arrangements and risk management “particularly around procurement and development”.
This followed a downgrade in March 2016 for coming close to a loan covenant breach. Later the same year, the association was found to have breached the Home Standard.
Anita Khan, chief executive of THCH, said: “We’ve been through a lot of change as an organisation, and we welcome the opportunity to engage with the regulator in a transparent and open way.
“We’re confident we can offer the RSH the assurance it requires and continue to deliver and improve our services for our residents.”
Read more
The regulator notifies that a provider’s grading is under review when its compliant grade is being investigated in relation to an issue which may result in a downgrade to a non-compliant grade (G3 or G4 for governance; V3 or V4 for viability).
According to its financial results for the year to 31 March 2022, THCH grew its surplus from £99,000 to £483,000.
The housing association saw its consolidated operating surplus rise from £2.6m to £2.8m and turnover from £18.3m to £23m, driven in part by an increase in rental income.
In October, the RSH placed ForHousing and East End Homes on its gradings under review list.
Over the past few months, the regulator found several providers to be non-compliant as a result of investigations while they were on the gradings under review list.
These include Auxesia Homes, a small for-profit registered provider that prioritises military personnel and key workers for homes, and Highstone Housing Association, a Yorkshire-based lease-based provider of supported housing.
Most recently, for-profit provider Heylo Housing was found non-compliant at its first published assessment by the regulator at the end of December, having been placed on the gradings under review list in July.
Elsewhere, earlier in December, the regulator downgraded lease-based provider My Space Housing to the lowest possible gradings of G4/V4, following an earlier non-compliant judgement at G3/V3 in December 2020.
It also downgraded Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to a non-compliant governance rating of G3 and published a regulatory notice against the provider after finding the association had breached the Home Standard and parts of the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard.
Update: at 4.22pm, 10/01/2023
The article has been updated with a comment from Anita Khan, chief executive of THCH.
RELATED
News05 Mar 2025
Two Essex landlords in talks to merge by end of year
News04 Mar 2025
North Yorkshire landlord raises £75m under guarantee scheme
- © Social Housing
- All rights reserved