Decision

Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited (L0726) - Regulatory Judgement: 28 May 2025

Published 28 May 2025

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.	First grading	May 2025
Governance	G2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.	Downgrade	May 2025
Viability	V2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.	Assessed and unchanged	May 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited, known as Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), following an inspection completed in May 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2, a governance grading of G2 and a financial viability grading of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for MTVH were last updated in December 2023 following a stability check which confirmed grades of G1 and V2 for Thames Valley Housing Association Limited, the group parent at that time. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection it is our judgement that there are some weaknesses in MTVH바카라 사이트™s delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for MTVH.

Our judgement is that MTVH meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance. Specifically, improvements are needed in how the board assures itself around the delivery of outcomes of the Safety and Quality standard, and the quality of its stress testing. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G2 grade for MTVH.

Our judgement is that MTVH meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to manage a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. MTVH has a number of financial risks that need to be managed including increased investment in its existing homes and developing homes for outright sale. MTVH has provided appropriate assurance it has access to sufficient liquidity and has adequate funding in place. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for MTVH.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of MTVH to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During our inspection, we considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During our inspection we observed a board meeting and MTVH바카라 사이트™s Customer Council meeting, spoke with tenants, held meetings with MTVH, including non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by MTVH. Our regulatory judgement is based on a review of all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information received from MTVH through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer 바카라 사이트“ C2 바카라 사이트“ May 2025 

During the inspection, MTVH demonstrated it understands the condition of its homes and this informs the provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for tenants. This includes ensuring its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard.

While MTVH takes reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of its tenants, improvements are needed to ensure remedial actions from Fire Risk Assessments are dealt with in a timely manner. We received a self-referral from MTVH on this issue in December 2024, at which time it had around 1,700 overdue actions. MTVH is working through its plan to address all overdue actions by the end of the year, prioritising its small number of high-risk actions.

We received assurance that MTVH has assessed its higher risk buildings and is taking action to complete fire remediation works in line with its programme. We also saw evidence that it is delivering its survey programme for all mid-rise buildings.

MTVH should, however, be further along in its work to ensure it engages effectively with tenants in higher risk buildings and those undergoing remediation, recognising the important role this plays in tenants feeling safe in their homes. During the inspection, we saw evidence that MTVH had started seeking more in-depth feedback from tenants and we will continue to engage with MTVH as it delivers actions in its building safety tenant engagement framework and in response to tenant feedback.

MTVH has recently seen increased tenant satisfaction with its repairs service by bringing the repairs work in-house for one of its regions. However, this has been challenging, and the landlord recognises that improvements are needed to meet its own repairs timescales for non-urgent work. MTVH has increased its capacity in the affected region, but at the time of our inspection it was too early to see this resulting in an effective, efficient and timely repairs service.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, we gained assurance that MTVH tenants had meaningful opportunities to influence its strategies, policies, and decision making, and that MTVH is making changes to services as a result. We saw evidence that MTVH uses the information it holds about the diverse needs of its tenants, to assess whether housing and landlord services deliver equitable outcomes, that are supported by a programme of tenant visits.

MTVH also provides tenants with accessible information about its performance and landlord services and is working to improve this further.

MTVH has recently made changes to its complaints handling service to improve both the quality and timeliness of its responses. However, MTVH has identified that it needs to reduce the number of cases where it requires an extension of time to respond to a complaint. We will continue to engage with MTVH while it makes these improvements to ensure it is delivering a timely complaints handling service for tenants.

We saw evidence that MTVH is delivering the outcomes of the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, including through its partnership working with other organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents, and to

promote wellbeing. We also saw evidence that it is allocating and letting its homes in a fair and transparent way and is supporting its tenants to maintain their tenancies.

Governance 바카라 사이트“ G2 바카라 사이트“ May 2025

MTVH provided assurance that its governance arrangements are effective in delivering its strategic objectives, social purpose and value for money. We saw evidence of robust strategic decision-making in line with its risk appetite and legal and regulatory obligations, seeking external advice as appropriate. During the inspection, MTVH demonstrated that it considers alternative options to deliver value for money and make best use of resources, including changes to its corporate structure and the activities it undertakes.

MTVH has a skilled and independent board, providing effective scrutiny and challenge. This was supported by a recent self-assessment with an external governance review planned for 2025/26. Succession planning has also ensured continuity and stability during periods of change.

The board is supported by an appropriate committee structure providing further oversight of the delivery of outcomes for tenants under our consumer standards. However, the balance of oversight between the board and committees is not in line with MTVH바카라 사이트™s strategic risks and in particular, did not provide assurance that the board had robust oversight of the safety and quality of tenants바카라 사이트™ homes. During our inspection, MTVH responded positively to our findings and has begun to implement changes to its reporting framework. Our regulatory engagement with MTVH will continue while these improvements develop to support its governance arrangements with the aim of delivering the improvements required in line with its C2 grade in a transparent and accountable manner.

The quality of financial reporting received by the board and its committees is sufficient to allow oversight of MTVH바카라 사이트™s key financial risks. However, we found weaknesses in MTVH바카라 사이트™s approach to stress testing. MTVH needs to demonstrate a clearer link to its assets and liabilities register in its stress testing, including modelling of more severe cost-based scenarios and developing and applying its mitigating strategies in more detail.

Viability 바카라 사이트“ V2 바카라 사이트“ May 2025

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection, we have assurance that MTVH바카라 사이트™s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. MTVH has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place, and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants under a reasonable range of adverse scenarios.

MTVH forecasts positive operating margins, though its forecast financial profile is weaker than in previous years due to the acceleration of its building safety remediation programme. In the short to medium term, MTVH plans to continue its investment into its current homes, including building safety works. It also plans to develop new homes and generate substantial surpluses from the sale of homes, including Low Cost Home Ownership sales. This will need to be managed as these factors restrict the capacity MTVH has available to respond to a wide range of financial risks.

We have assurance that MTVH has reporting and oversight mechanisms in place to manage the identified risks and to track financial performance. However, when set in the context of economic pressures, the above factors impact on MTVH바카라 사이트™s capacity to respond to adverse events.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

MTVH is the trading name of the group that includes two registered providers:

• Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited, a charitable community benefit society, the main stock owner, and group parent from 31 December 2024; and

• Thames Valley Housing Association, a community benefit society and group parent until 31 December 2024.

The group owns seven unregistered subsidiaries.

MTVH owns and manages around 57,000 homes in London, the South East, East Midlands and the east of England (including around 10,000 non-social properties). It also develops new homes and provides care and support services.

The group employs the full-time equivalent of around 2,000 staff. Its turnover for the year ended 31 March 2024 was £420m.

Over the course of its Corporate Plan 2021-2026, MTVH expects to have delivered around 4,000 homes as a strategic partner of Homes England, the Greater London Authority and through joint ventures.

Our role and regulatory approach

We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.

We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).

We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord바카라 사이트™s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants바카라 사이트™ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.

We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.

We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord바카라 사이트™s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords바카라 사이트™ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes.

The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord바카라 사이트™s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.

For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards.

Further information

• Regulating the standards

• Regulatory standards for landlords

Related documents

• Decent Homes Standard