Factors for assessing regulatory issues
How we assess issues of potential regulatory concern
Applies to England
Our approach
In line with our risk-based approach, we carry out work to assess how material issues or potential issues of regulatory concern are to landlords delivering the outcomes of our standards. This section sets out some examples of the factors we may use to help us do this.
We use the factors across our regulatory activities including when we are considering:
- a referral, including referrals from tenants and self-referrals from a landlord
- issues identified within inspections
- our regular reviews of information between programmed inspections including notifications
- the seriousness of failings within landlords to deliver the outcomes of our standards which informs our regulatory judgements and where appropriate our gradings, as well as our decisions about investigating and taking action.
Where we need further information to help us consider whether an issue is material to the landlord delivering the outcomes of our standards, we seek further information from the landlord first, then other stakeholders where it is appropriate.
Examples of factors we may consider
We have set out below the factors that we may consider to help us assess how material an issue or potential issue of regulatory concern is to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. These fall into five areas:
- Remit – whether the issues relate to our standards
- Context – what our broader regulatory intelligence tells us
- Scale and impact – who may be impacted by the issue and what the impact might be
- Landlord actions – what actions the landlord has taken in response to the issue
- Our statutory objectives and duties – including the things that our legislation requires us to have regard to
We consider the circumstances of each case on an individual basis. This means that we use these factors flexibly so that we are able to respond on a case-by-case basis. We may identify other factors in a particular case, and we might not consider all these factors to be relevant in every case. The weight we attach to each of the factors may also vary according to the facts of each case.
The table below sets out examples of questions we may consider for each factor. We may consider other questions if appropriate to a particular case and in some instances, we might not consider all the questions set out here to be relevant.
Example Factors
| Factor | Questions to consider |
|---|---|
| Remit | Do the issues raised relate to our standards? Which required outcomes or specific expectations in our standards does the issue relate to? |
| Context | What relevant evidence has been provided to us about the issue from the landlord, other bodies or the person making the referral? What does other regulatory intelligence we have about the landlord show? For example, does the issue appear to be part of a pattern? How did the landlord first become aware of the issue? Did the landlord act appropriately on any relevant information it had? Over what time period has the issue been happening? How long had the issue been happening before it was identified? |
| Scale and (potential) impact | What is the impact or potential impact of the issue on - stakeholders (including impacts to tenants and potential tenants, see below) - the landlord and its financial capacity, and - the reputation of the sector What is the scale of the issue? For example: - How many tenants are affected? - Does the issue impact or potentially impact on particular tenant groups? (e.g. in a specific place) - What are the (potential) financial implications for stakeholders? |
| Landlord actions | To what extent has the issue been caused, or made worse, by the landlord’s actions or lack of action? What actions has the landlord taken to resolve this issue and to reduce the remaining risks, including actions to stop it happening again? - Were the actions taken promptly? For example: - How successful have the actions been? Has the landlord been transparent about the issue with its tenants, with us and with other relevant stakeholders? If the landlord told us about the issue (‘self-referral’), how quickly did it tell us once it realised there might be a problem? |
| Statutory objectives and duties | To what extent does the issue pose a risk to the regulator achieving its fundamental objectives? How have our statutory duties been taken into account in considering the issue? |
The presenting issue may have significant impacts or potential impacts on a wide group of stakeholders including the landlord, tenants, and investors. Impacts might include for example, the financial capacity of the landlord, and/or reputational impacts on the landlord and the wider social housing sector. Issues at landlords can also have wide ranging impacts on tenants. The table below shows examples of the types of impacts on tenants we may be concerned about and examples of the reasons for those impacts.
Examples of impacts on tenants
| Examples of impacts on tenants | Examples of causes |
|---|---|
| (Risk of) physical injury or impact on health | Inadequate responsive repairs service and/or major works programme Inadequate programme of statutory health and safety checks across the homes and buildings (‘stock’) the landlord manages |
| (Risk of) loss of home | The landlord is insolvent or has been mismanaged |
| Infringement of legal rights | The landlord is consistently breaching tenancy terms, for example, by carrying out illegal evictions |
| Impacts resulting from failure to involve/consult tenants | Tenants are not able to scrutinise performance and/or influence service provision The landlord has not consulted tenants about a change in landlord, the disposal of tenanted social housing outside the sector or a significant change in management arrangements |
| Financial loss | The landlord has charged tenants the wrong rents because they have inadequate systems in place |
| Unfair treatment | The landlord has failed to follow their own policies and procedures consistently |
| (Risk to) wellbeing | All the above |