Decision

LiveWest Homes Limited (4873) - Regulatory Judgement: 26 March 2025

Updated 26 March 2025

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C1 Our judgement is that overall the landlord is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. The landlord has demonstrated that it identifies when issues occur and puts plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence.	First grading	March 2025
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	March 2025
Viability	V1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.	Assessed and unchanged	March 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for LiveWest Homes Limited (LiveWest) following an inspection completed in March 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C1, a governance grading of G1 and a financial viability grading of V1.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for LiveWest were last updated in December 2023 following a stability check to confirm grades of G1 and V1. 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 it is our judgement that LiveWest is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C1 grade for LiveWest.

Our judgement is that LiveWest meets our governance requirements. LiveWest has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements, and that it continues to effectively manage the risks of its activities, allowing it to deliver its strategic and charitable objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for LiveWest.

Our judgement is that LiveWest meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. LiveWest has provided appropriate assurance that it has access to sufficient liquidity and adequate funding in place. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V1 grade for LiveWest.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of LiveWest to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability requirements, 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 a board meeting and tenant scrutiny group, spoke to tenants, held meetings with LiveWest and its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by LiveWest.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information supplied by LiveWest through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C1 – March 2025 

LiveWest has provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. There is evidence that LiveWest has accurate records of the condition of its homes based on physical surveys and has a process in place for keeping this information up to date. LiveWest has demonstrated that it uses this information on the quality and safety of its homes to inform decisions on future investment to maintain and improve conditions.

Through the inspection we saw evidence that landlord services operate well, which is reflected in the landlord’s tenant satisfaction measure performance. LiveWest has an efficient, effective, and timely repairs service for emergency repairs, and is taking action to improve its non-urgent repair performance times and further improve outcomes for tenants.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, LiveWest demonstrated it works in partnership with local partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the communities where it provides homes. We saw evidence of this, with safeguarding measures in place to support tenants where necessary. Where performance does not meet expectations, LiveWest seeks to learn from this and make improvements in its services to tenants.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that LiveWest offers a range of tenancies under local authority choice-based lettings schemes. The allocations policy is fair and transparent, and tenants are supported by a variety of means throughout their tenancy, including through a five-year cyclical programme of ‘you and your home’ visits.   

LiveWest demonstrates proactive use of its data for insight into delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. A data layering approach is used to prioritise tenancy visits by incorporating the information LiveWest holds about its homes and tenants into integrated reporting that enables targeted interventions.

LiveWest is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards in relation to the Transparency, Influence, and Accountability Standard. It treats tenants with fairness and respect, and specific actions are being taken to deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants and meet diverse needs.

LiveWest provides a range of opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services. LiveWest takes tenants’ views into account in decision-making and provides information about landlord services, performance, and how complaints are addressed. This is supported by well-established tenant scrutiny and engagement mechanisms.

Governance – G1 – March 2025

Based on evidence gained from the inspection, there is assurance that LiveWest’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risks and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives. An emphasis on building new homes is balanced alongside continuing investment in existing stock, and a continuous improvement approach for customer outcomes that reflects a strong organisational focus on customers and tenant satisfaction.

LiveWest has provided evidence that it has an effective business planning, risk management and control framework, with a good understanding of its risk profile, stress testing and mitigations. We have assurance that key risks are being managed effectively, including in relation to stock investment, development and sales, and landlord health and safety. LiveWest uses stress testing to identify emerging risks and inform decision-making as part of the wider control framework.

We saw evidence that board reporting provides sufficient detail to ensure effective oversight across the group, and mitigation strategies are in place. Reporting from committees is also timely, well developed, and effective.

LiveWest was able to provide evidence that it has established and maintains clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. The relationship between its board and committees is working in line with its delegations to strengthen assurance in key areas of risk and compliance. Continuing governance improvement is evidenced through annual effectiveness reviews and in-depth periodic external governance reviews.  

Board member skills, experience and knowledge are aligned with the activities of the organisation, and there is a structured approach to developing and appraising skills to support succession planning. We saw evidence of this through board observation, meetings with non-executive directors and the executive team, as well as reviewing relevant documents including meeting minutes.

Viability – V1 – March 2025

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection, there is assurance that LiveWest’s financial plans are consistent with and support its financial strategy. LiveWest’s latest business plan demonstrates that it is adequately funded with a strong financial profile, has a high level of covenant headroom, and is based on reasonable assumptions.

There is a suite of internal financial framework measures in place to contain financial risks, and close board monitoring of sales and development risks. There is sufficient liquidity in place, and a strong security position to enable it to fund delivery of its development programme and invest in its stock. Stress testing illustrates capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

LiveWest is a community benefit society and is the only RSH registered entity in the group, which also includes four active unregistered commercial subsidiaries. The most significant of these is Westco Properties Limited, that delivers the development of new homes for sale.

LiveWest owns around 37,500 social housing homes across the south west of England, from Cornwall to Gloucester. It operates in 30 local authority areas.

At 31 March 2024, LiveWest employed 1,604 full-time equivalent staff. Turnover for the year ended 31 March 2024 was £306m.

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 new 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