Decision

Livin Housing Limited (L4538) - Regulatory Judgement: 27 November 2024

Updated 27 November 2024

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.	First grading	November 2024
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and Unchanged	November 2024
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	November 2024

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Livin Housing Limited (Livin) following an inspection completed in November 2024.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2, a governance grading of G1 and a financial viability grading of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Livin were last updated in January 2024 following a stability check, to confirm grades of G1 and V2. 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 there are some weaknesses in how Livin is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to our Safety and Quality Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Livin.

Our judgement is that Livin meets our governance requirements. Livin 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 Livin.

Our judgement is that Livin meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Livin does have to manage its exposure to financial risks. These include the need to invest in its existing homes, alongside delivering its development programme. Stress testing demonstrates that financial capacity is built into its development plan and Livin has provided assurance that it has access to sufficient liquidity and has adequate funding in place. Based on this assessment we have concluded a V2 grade for Livin

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Livin 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 panel, spoke to tenants, held meetings with Livin including with its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Livin.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information received from Livin through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – November 2024 

During the inspection Livin provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Livin demonstrated that it understands its compliance position over landlord health and safety requirements. Its performance information demonstrated a good level of reported compliance with legal obligations.

Livin has some understanding of the condition of its homes at an individual property level but the inspection identified weaknesses in the quality and breadth of information. Livin has a programme in place to gain an accurate and up to date record of the condition of its homes through physical stock condition surveys, however at the time of our inspection it has not made sufficient progress in delivering this programme. Livin is able to demonstrate that it uses the information it holds to assess the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes and inform decision making on future investment in its homes. We will continue to engage with Livin while it delivers the actions required to complete the gaps in its understanding of the condition of its homes.

Livin has demonstrated that it provides an effective and timely repairs service to tenants. There is evidence it takes action to improve the service and outcomes for tenants when issues occur. Livin recognises the importance of its repairs service and has made changes to improve how tenants are able engage with the repairs service.

Livin has evidenced that when tenant complaints are received, it considers them and makes service improvements in response. Livin’s board considers updates on the nature of complaints received and ensures that an approach is in place to ensure learning from complaints.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, we gained assurance that Livin is working in partnership with relevant organisations and with residents to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods in which it operates.

Livin has demonstrated that, in line with the Tenancy Standard, it seeks to offer tenures that are appropriate, taking into account the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community and the efficient use of social housing. 

Livin’s allocations policy sets out its approach to ensuring all properties are let in a fair and transparent way. We saw evidence that Livin is committed to sustainability of tenancies and seeks to ensure tenants are supported accordingly.

Overall Livin’s approach is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards in relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. It has put in place training and development of its staff to further develop a culture of fairness and respect. Livin demonstrates an active approach to considering tenants’ diverse needs in the design and delivery of services and presented appropriate assurance that the tenant information it holds is used to support the delivery of fair and equitable services.

Livin provides a wide range of opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services. There are clear arrangements in place through which Livin hears from tenants. There is also evidence that tenant scrutiny and feedback has directly and positively impacted service delivery. Livin has provided appropriate assurance that it makes effective use of its performance data to shape services and provides a range of information to tenants to support effective scrutiny.

Livin is strengthening the quality and consistency of performance reporting to board to ensure it has sufficient oversight of outcomes for tenants.

Governance – G1 – November 2024

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection there is assurance that Livin’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage risk and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives. Livin’s board demonstrated that it considers risk appetite in strategic decision making and that performance against strategic targets is monitored and challenged.

Livin has provided appropriate assurance that its board proactively reviews its approach to delivering against its purpose and regularly considers alternative options to ensure it is achieving value for money in making best use of resources.

We saw evidence that Livin 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, the most recent of which was completed in December 2022.

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 have seen evidence of this through board observation, meetings with non-executive directors and the executive team.

Livin’s risk management and control framework is aligned to its strategic risks. There is evidence of robust discussion and board challenge of the controls and assurance on strategic risks and of risks being managed effectively in practice. The inspection has identified some areas for improvement that Livin is committed to deliver.

Livin’s board actively seeks and gains an appropriate level of assurance across a range of areas. There is evidence of how this assurance has been used to make improvements including on the approach to damp and mould cases, its repairs service and its approach to anti-social behaviour.

Board ownership of stress testing, mitigation strategies and wider governance over risks through regular and structured review of golden rules is evident. Reporting to board provides sufficient detail for the board to ensure effective oversight.

Viability – V2 – November 2024

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that Livin’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Livin has appropriately evidenced that is has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place to support its financial plans and is forecast to meet its financial covenants under a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Livin’s board has effective oversight of covenant compliance with regular reporting on place on actual and forecast covenant compliance.

Livin continues to meet our viability requirements and it continues to forecast generating a positive operating margin. However, in the short term Livin’s financial performance is weakened, primarily as a result of high levels of investment in existing homes and the development of new homes. This restricts Livin’s capacity to respond to a wide range of adverse scenarios.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Livin is an exempt, charitable community benefit society, owning and managing around 8,883 homes, predominantly in County Durham.

Livin is the RSH registered entity in the group, which includes Livin Development Limited, a dormant entity. Livin is also a member of Spirit Regeneration and Development LLP (Spirit), which is a development company incorporated in 2006.

Based on the audited accounts for 2023-24, Livin employed 127 full time equivalent staff and generated turnover of £42.7m. Livin intends to deliver 446 homes between 2024 and 2028.

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