The Regulator for Social Housing is a standalone non-departmental public body of government. Their role is to promote a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes.
As part of their role they have developed a set of regulatory standards for landlords, which all registered housing providers like ourselves must comply with.
While there are a number of areas where our services comply with these standards, we've taken the opportunity to write to the regulator to let them know that there are some areas where we do not fully meet these new standards, which were introduced in April 2024.
Pauline Stuchfield, Director of Housing and Communities wrote to our tenants in October 2024, outlining where we plan to improve our performance against those standards. In the letter she said:
"Since April 2024, the services we provide to you as a landlord have been monitored by the Regulator of Social Housing.
"We welcome the introduction of a Regulator and the opportunity this brings to improve the quality of your homes and services we provide. To support this improvement across the UK’s social housing sector, the Regulator has set out several new Consumer Standards by which our services will be measured.
"The Regulator has asked us to consider how our services compare to these new Consumer Standards. While there are a number of areas where our services comply, we've taken the opportunity to write to the Regulator to let them know that there are some areas where we do not fully meet these new standards."
In February 2026, the Regulator visited our Housing Services team and inspected our services against all four regulatory standards. They are: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.
On 29 April the Regulator published their report, which lists their rating of us and the reasons for it.
C1 is the highest rating and C4 the lowest. The inspectors graded the Council’s services as C2, the second highest listing. When the report was published, 40% of the providers to have received a consumer grade were graded as C2.
The Regulator said: “Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.”
View the City of York Counil response to this grading:
Ways in which we're improving our services
We’re using our stock condition survey and the annual gas services to update our records. If you believe that your home is lacking a smoke or carbon monoxide detector, let the repairs team know and we will quickly arrange for one to be installed.
Knowing you and your particular needs is important to us. This information can help guide our services to ensure we are providing the right help and support for you. However, our records on residents’ needs are not as complete as we would like. This means that it is more difficult for us to tailor the support we provide you. The sort of additional information which would help us do this includes:
- whether you are or a family member is disabled and any adjustments you would like us to make in the way we communicate or provide services to you
- whether English is not your first language or any support you need with reading and understanding the information we supply
- your preferred method of contact, whether by email or post
To help us improve the services we offer you, we would be grateful if you could tell us a little more about yourself and how we can better support you. You can do this by:
- completing our Supporting our tenants needs eform
- emailing: housing.serviceimprovements@york.gov.uk
- calling telephone: 01904 555556 - leave a voicemail with your name and number and we’ll call you back
We want to keep you better informed about how we are performing and what we are doing to improve the services we offer you.
Our 2024 to 2025 Tenant and leaseholder Annual Report shows some of the work we have been doing and the difference we're making.
If you'd like a paper copy of this report, contact the Housing Service Improvements Team.
Also see
- Repairs to your council home
- Annual safety checks
- Advice and tips on maintenance
- Moving Out Standard