Sector Risk Profile 2025: What Social Landlords Need to Know

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Each year, the Regulator of Social Housing, known as the Regulator, publishes its Sector Risk Profile, which outlines the most high profile strategic and operational risks facing the social housing sector in England.

The 2025 profile, published in November, comes at a time of significant change.

With tighter regulation, growing financial pressures and rising expectations from tenants and government alike, the message is clear that social landlords must stay alert, adaptive and accountable.

So, what does this year’s risk profile say and what should housing providers be doing in response to it?

1. Financial resilience under strain

The Regulator highlights that many registered providers continue to face severe cost pressures, including:

• High inflation across materials and labour
• Increased borrowing costs
• Uncertainty in development pipelines
• Rising insurance premiums

While most providers remain financially viable, the Regulator warns that tight margins could compromise investment in existing homes and providers must demonstrate they are stress-testing business plans, managing debt responsibly and avoiding excessive risk.

2. Stock condition and disrepair in the spotlight

The condition of social housing stock is a recurring theme and the Regulator emphasises that landlords must:

• Understand the true condition of their homes on an ongoing basis
• Invest in planned maintenance and not just reactive repairs
• Address damp, mould and structural issues proactively

With Awaab’s Law, new consumer standards and increased tenant expectations, the bar is being raised further than ever before.

3. Building safety is non-negotiable

Building safety remains a top priority and the Regulator expects full compliance with:

• The Building Safety Act 2022
• The Fire Safety Regulations
• The requirements of the new Building Safety Regulator

Landlords must ensure they have competent people, clear reporting structures, and evidence that their homes are safe, especially in higher-risk buildings.

4. Consumer regulation is changing fast

With the rollout of proactive consumer regulation from April 2024, the Regulator expects:

• Landlords to demonstrate accountability
• Meaningful tenant engagement
• Transparent performance reporting

Consumer regulation is no longer secondary to economic regulation and providers must give equal weight to tenant satisfaction, complaint handling and customer care.

5. Governance matters more than ever

Strong governance runs through every risk and Boards and Executive Teams must understand their responsibilities, avoid mission creep and make decisions that prioritise tenants, compliance and long-term viability.

Delivering safe, decent homes remains the 'fundamental responsibility' of landlords and failure leads to regulatory penalties and consequences to individual housing leaders as well as real harm to tenants and loss of trust

How can DISREPAIR AWARE help?

Many rented homes are not inspected regularly or maintained properly - we want to help improve housing conditions for everyone.

We help tenants and leaseholders understand their rights and get support and help registered providers, private landlords and estate agents to understand their obligations and get compliant.