The Regulator of Social Housing has published further regulatory notices for St Andrews Community Housing Association (St Andrews) and Kinsman Housing Limited (Kinsman) regarding its intention to deregister each social housing provider.
Registration as a registered provider brings with it the requirement to meet the regulatory standards on an ongoing basis; however, the regulator has assessed that St Andrews and Kinsman are unable to demonstrate that they meet the eligibility criteria for registration.
Kinsman and St Andrews are both small providers, which are in “serious and persistent breach” of the regulator’s standards.
Each owns and manages social homes under arrangements entered into after registration, which give material controls and all beneficial interest to a third party.
As a result, the regulator says it continues to have serious concerns about each provider’s financial viability and “weak” governance arrangements.
It adds that each provider has failed to take adequate action to address their ongoing non-compliance in response to enforcement notices that the regulator published in February 2023.
The regulator says the two providers “do not have adequate control” over their social housing assets, putting them at “undue risk”.
This means they are unable to sustain their financial viability on an ongoing basis as required.
Each provider has an opportunity to make representations to the regulator before it makes a final decision.
Jonathan Walters, deputy chief executive at the Regulator of Social Housing, said: “We have used a range of regulatory and enforcement powers to make St Andrews and Kinsman address their issues, but they have been unable or unwilling to do so.
“As a result, we have notified each provider of our intention to remove them from the register of social housing providers.”
St Andrews Community Housing Association and Kinsman Housing Limited have been contacted for comment.
Image credit: Gajus/Shutterstock
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