The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published an enforcement notice for Pivotal Housing Association (PHA) to make it take prompt actions to address serious failures and manage itself effectively.

PHA, a lease-based provider of specialised supported housing, has failed to ensure it has access to sufficient liquidity and can manage significant risks to its viability both in the short and longer term, the RSH says. This could put the social homes it owns and manages and the quality of services it delivers at risk.

In 2021, the RSH concluded PHA was not delivering the outcomes of either the Governance and Financial Viability Standard or the Rent Standard.

Since then, the RSH says it has engaged intensively with PHA, but the landlord been unable or unwilling to resolve the issues and meet the regulatory standards.

The regulator is using its powers to make PHA commission an independent review and develop a clear action plan for agreement with the regulator.

The housing association must review risks and liabilities to determine whether it can remain solvent, tenant safety and management of potential conflicts of interests.

Jonathan Walters, Deputy Chief Executive of RSH, said: “We are prepared to use powers where landlords are unable or unwilling to address issues to protect social homes and tenants’ interests.

“PHA is exposed to significant financial risks due to the type of lease structures it has entered into. It must address its access to liquidity urgently and agree a plan with us to ensure it can be properly managed and viable for the longer term.

“We expect PHA to co-operate fully with our direction.”