ForHousing Limited (L4528) - Regulatory Judgement: 17 December 2025
Updated 17 December 2025
Applies to England
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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 | December 2025 |
| 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 | December 2025 |
Reason for publication
We are publishing a regulatory judgement for ForHousing Limited (ForHousing) following a stability check completed in December 2025.
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 ForHousing meets our financial 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 ForHousing.
From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grade is required. ForHousing’s governance grade remains G2.
This regulatory judgement is based on a stability check which does not include an assessment of ForHousing’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.
Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for ForHousing were last updated in February 2025 following a stability check and responsive engagement 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 ForHousing as part of our annual stability check programme.
Our judgement about how well ForHousing is delivering the viability outcomes of our Governance and Financial Viability Standard is based on a review of a range of documents provided by ForHousing, as well as analysis of information supplied by ForHousing in its regulatory returns.
In confirming ForHousing’s governance grade as part of the stability check, our work was limited to verifying that the information contained in ForHousing’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 – December 2025
From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate that a change in governance grade is required.
Prior to this regulatory judgement, we issued a regulatory judgement in February 2025 following a stability check and responsive engagement with ForHousing. Below are the findings in that judgement about ForHousing’s delivery of our governance requirements.
In January 2023, we downgraded ForHousing’s governance grade from G2 to G3. This was the result of an IDA and subsequent investigation, in which we found ForHousing had not delivered previously promised improvements to its governance arrangements and that unregistered entities within ForHousing’s then group structure had hindered its ability to meet our standards, allowing risks to crystallise.
ForHousing worked closely with us to develop and agree a recovery plan to deliver improvements in its governance arrangements and, based on evidence gained from our responsive engagement, we have assurance that the required improvements have been implemented.
ForHousing has restructured its business, removed an unregistered parent and disposed of its interest in another unregistered company that was part of the same parent group. ForHousing’s board has been able to evidence that it has full, independent, control over decisions that impact its outcomes. We saw evidence that it has strengthened its control framework and improved its oversight of strategic risks. ForHousing has provided assurance that the appropriate controls and mechanisms are in place to identify and manage risks.
Through the improvements made, ForHousing has provided appropriate assurance that it has sufficiently addressed significant governance weaknesses previously identified so that it can deliver its aims, objectives and intended outcomes for tenants in an effective, transparent and accountable manner. ForHousing needs to continue to make improvements in its governance and risk management as it reviews the effectiveness of the changes it has made. In addition, ForHousing needs to continue to ensure it has a good understanding of the condition of its homes, and to demonstrate that it is effectively managing the associated risks and evidencing the impact on outcomes for tenants.
We continue to actively engage with ForHousing to monitor its progress in improving aspects of its governance arrangements.
Viability – V2 – December 2025
Based on evidence gained from the stability check, we have assurance that ForHousing meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
ForHousing’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. It has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants.
ForHousing is investing in improving the quality of its existing homes and is continuing to develop new homes. This means needing to manage the increasing volume and cost of delivering services, specifically its repairs and maintenance programmes. Further, it needs to increase its understanding of the condition of its homes by updating the information it holds, including through physical surveys, to better inform the level of future investment required. These factors weaken financial performance when set in the context of economic pressures and means that ForHousing has the capacity to respond to a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, but it will need to manage these material risks.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
According to the 2025 statistical data return ForHousing owns 17,940 homes in seven local authorities in the North West.
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.