By Alistair McIntosh, HQN CEO

Key points from inspection reports 27 May – delayed as your correspondent stuck in queues at Rhodes Airport

Liverpool is fast becoming the capital of the C1s. Poor old Arne Slot might have got the tin tack from the footy team. But the associations are flying as high as the Liver Birds.

This time around it’s Regenda that gets to put out the bunting. They also received a governance upgrade from G2 to G1. HQN has been working with Regenda for a long time. So much of the focus was on governance that I’d rather lost sight of the fact that there was an actual housing association there. At long last when HQN looked at the services on the ground, we were mightily impressed. So too were the RSH.

We’re pleased to see that both Sanctuary and Railway climbed from C2 to C1. Well done. A plea to the RSH: can we have a bit more detail? Rising satisfaction and falling complaints are at the heart of these upgrades. It’d help us all to understand what’s going on if we got to see actual numbers here.

Unfortunately, Rugby Borough Council stayed on C3. It didn’t help their case that the RSH spotted a breach of the Rent Standard – tenants were paying too much.

As the RSH report makes clear, the council is well on the way to sorting the rents. But there’s a lot more to do to move up from C3. Others have done it, so Rugby can too.

One last point. There’s a furore about whether Nicola Sturgeon should or should not have seen the campervan. Why does this matter to us? The question for our boards and inspectors is this: would we have seen the campervan or something like it? Let’s face it, we won’t get the benefit of the doubt.

Regenda C1 – Inspection

There are all the usual hallmarks of the top rating:

  • “Appropriate systems” for assurance on health and safety
  • Managing damp and mould and other hazards effectively
  • Accurate and up-to-date stock condition data – uses this to take decisions on future investments
  • “Effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service” – continuing to get better
  • “Makes use of tenants’ information to tailor its services” – board must ensure that knowledge of individual tenants and their support needs keeps getting better and makes a difference (HQN spoke to Regenda staff – operatives are given instructions to wait longer for tenants that might struggle to get to the door quickly while comms are aimed at a reading age of nine – in line with government advice)
  • “Works with local partners to deter and tackle ASB and hate incidents”
  • RSH “gained assurance that tenant feedback and insight is used to improved service outcomes and influence decision-making”
  • “Complaints are addressed fairly, promptly and effectively” and used to drive change.

Sanctuary C1 after upgrade due to RSH follow-up responsive engagement – was C2 at January 2025 inspection

Last time around, the RSH could see that Sanctuary was planning to improve the repairs service via a new IT system and operating model. Now the RSH accepts that Sanctuary has embedded these changes with resident satisfaction rising. It’s a pity that the RSH gives no figures as it’d be interesting to see the uplift. Often there can be a lag between improving the service and the results of satisfaction surveys.

Railway Housing C1 after upgrade due to RSH follow up responsive engagement – was C2 at September 2025 inspection

This is a very similar story to Sanctuary. At the point of inspection, Railway needed to improve its repairs service and do more to understand what tenants want. Railway Housing has now done so. It holds and uses information on 93% of tenants. Satisfaction with repairs is up, while complaints are down. Frustratingly, the RSH gives us no figures here.

Rugby Borough Council – C3 grade from February 2026 inspection unchanged – “Serious failings” on Rent Standard now

The RSH spotted problems via its annual review of rent data:

  • “Rugby BC applied a general rent setting approach that failed to apply the correct property valuations as the basis for formula rent”
  • 4,000 tenancies had been overcharged to the tune of £415k in total
  • A small number of tenants who were evicted had an overcharge on their account at the time of eviction – ranging from 0.2% to 48.9% of their arrears
  • Rugby BC not yet able to confirm exact position
  • New tenants now being charged right amount with errors corrected for existing tenants
  • Starting to confirm refunds to individual tenants
  • External legal advice being taken to ensure plans to rectify are sound.