Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council fails to meet RSH’s standards
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-26)

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council has failed to meet the outcomes of the consumer standards, the Regulator of Social Housing announced today (Wednesday 26 November).

The council received a C3 consumer grading, after an inspection found:

Less than half of its homes have had a full stock condition survey in the last five years.

A lack of consistent reporting, tracking and oversight of landlord health and safety.

The council was unable to demonstrate that tenants’ views are taken into account in its decision-making about how landlord services are delivered.

The issues found during the inspection have been driven, in part, by how Oldham MBC has operated the two PFI agreements in place for the management of the majority of its homes.

Oldham MBC has worked constructively with RSH, and RSH will continue to engage intensively with the council as it addresses these issues.

RSH also published a C2 grading for the London Borough of Ealing, which means there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards.

RSH found that the council is largely meeting its health and safety requirements. However, RSH found some weaknesses in the delivery of LB Ealing’s health and safety remedial activities, its repairs service, and the information it holds about tenants. LB Ealing is continuing to make improvements in each of these areas and RSH will continue to engage with the council as it progresses with this work.

RSH also published regulatory judgements for 30 landlords based on the outcomes of their annual stability checks. All retained their current governance and viability gradings.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:

“Social landlords need accurate, up-to-date data about tenants and their homes, to ensure homes are safe and services are good quality. We also expect landlords to engage with tenants, listen to what they say, and use their feedback to improve service outcomes.

“Senior councillors and officers must scrutinise the performance of delivery partners and the service they are providing, as the ultimate responsibility for meeting our standards rests with the landlord. This is a central pillar of our regulation, and we will continue to use our inspection programme and other tools to drive long-term improvements by landlords.”

Notes to Editors

Links to all the regulatory judgements published today are in the table below.

RSH been engaging with LB Ealing since the council received a regulatory notice in May 2022, due to a breach of the then Home Standard. The judgement published today replaces the previous notice.

On 1 April 2024 RSH introduced new consumer standards (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/regulatory-standards-for-landlords) for social housing landlords, designed to drive long-term improvements in the sector. It also began a programme of landlord inspections. The changes are a result of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and include stronger powers to hold landlords to account. More information about RSH’s approach is available in its document Reshaping Consumer Regulation (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reshaping-consumer-regulation-our-new-approach).

More information about RSH’s responsive engagement (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/responsive-engagement-with-landlords), programmed inspections (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/our-approach-to-inspections) and consumer gradings (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-we-approach-regulatory-judgements-and-gradings#governance-viability-and-consumer-grades) is also available on its website.

RSH carries out stability checks on all housing associations, and other private registered providers, who own 1,000 homes or more. The stability checks are a yearly exercise. We look at the financial information PRPs have submitted to us (including their most recent business plan and annual accounts) and consider if there are any risks which might result in a change to their financial viability or governance gradings. The checks do not include local authorities because our Governance and Financial Viability Standard does not apply to them.

RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes. It does this by setting standards and carrying out robust regulation focusing on driving improvement in social landlords, including local authorities, and ensuring that housing associations are well-governed, financially viable and offer value for money. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.

-For general enquiries, email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx). For media enquiries please see our media enquiries (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/regulator-of-social-housing/about/media-enquiries) page.