Providing Safe and Decent Homes – Housing Sector Risk Profile 2025

By David Guy · 3 December 2025

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The Regulator of Social Housing’s Sector Risk Profile 2025 places ‘Providing Safe and Decent Homes  at the top of its risk list. Housing which falls below standard or presents health and safety risks will continue to feature in regulatory downgrades, attracting media coverage and parliamentary scrutiny.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has been clear that culture, leadership and governance are just as important as technical compliance, whilst poor assurance or weak oversight can create organisational blind spots.

With Awaab’s Law now in force (October 2025), landlords face clear statutory timescales, stronger written-summary duties, and new expectations around case recording, hazard triage and cross-team coordination. Operational challenges are significant, and regulators are looking closely at how data, processes and culture work together to deliver compliance.

Alongside this, the wider set of safety requirements remain paramount, with increased scrutiny on fire safety in recent years, the requirements around structural safety, gas and electricity, asbestos and lifts must not be neglected. Many organisations continue to struggle with poor data and record keeping, outdated systems and inconsistent inspection regimes. Even when effort is high, these weaknesses can undermine compliance and assurance.

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How we support organisations

We have over 35 years’ experience of helping landlords get ahead of risk rather than reacting when issues arise. Our services that help you provide safe and decent homes include:

Building Safety Health Checks

A comprehensive appraisal covering the ‘Big 7’ safety risks, designed to give boards a clear understanding on where they are effectively complying with and maintaining a proactive approach to compliance, processes and operational risk.

Awaab’s Law Review and Compliance Support

We support landlords to review and strengthen their policies, processes and records so they align with the October 2025 Awaab’s Law guidance. This includes assessing triage, inspections, written-summary processes, hazard recording and new timescale response pathways, and developing any templates, workflows or tools required. We work across contact centres, surveyors, housing teams and contractors to help embed consistent practice and help senior leaders to meet statutory duties under their remit.

Damp and Mould expertise

We help landlords strengthen their approach to damp and mould in line with the expectations of the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing, focusing on culture, communication, record keeping and consistent case handling – areas frequently highlighted in determinations and regulatory notices. Whilst Awaab’s Law introduces new statutory timescales, we can help ensure organisations are meeting the wider behavioural and operational standards that regulators now expect.

Asset Data and Housing Intelligence

Establishing clear data structures, reporting lines, and system integrations, working to ensure that data and safety information is consistently accurate, timely and accessible.
Our ASAP asset performance model can help organisations stay on top of data, use it intelligently, and plan for timely interventions as well as help make long term planning decisions as well as reviewing asset and property service delivery support, coaching and training for frontline teams, development of asset management strategies and resident engagement projects

I have recently worked with a large town council in England to ensure that they are providing safe and decent homes across their property portfolio. Helping our client prepare for Awaab’s Law has shown how essential it is to get the basics right — fast, consistent responses, clear communication, and strong data and assurance. By supporting their teams and engaging key stakeholders, we’ve helped them build a model that protects residents and stands up to regulatory scrutiny. ARK’s role has been to help to turn risk into resilience.

Landlords that take a proactive, data driven approach will be well positioned to meet the expectations of both the Regulator and their residents. At ARK, we can help you to understand the risks, build strong, future-proof processes, and ensure that your homes meet the standards that that tenants deserve.

Contact us today to start a conversation about how ARK can help you and your organisation navigate the challenge that providing safe and decent homes presents.

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