The Scottish Housing Regulator today published its report on the outcome of its statutory intervention at Fairfield Housing Association.
The report sets out why the Regulator intervened and the action it took to safeguard the interests of Fairfield’s tenants and service users.
The Regulator used its statutory powers to appoint a manager and seven members to Fairfield’s governing body in November 2018 to address serious failures in the Association’s governance and financial management. Following appointment, the manager and appointees identified further serious failures in tenant and resident safety, procurement and other areas of legal compliance.
The Regulator ended its intervention in December 2021 following Fairfield’s decision to transfer its engagements to Kingdom Housing Association.
The Regulator removed Fairfield from the register of social landlords in March 2022.
Helen Shaw, Director of Regulation at the Regulator said:
“We use our statutory powers only when we need to protect the interests of tenants and service users. We intervened at Fairfield because we identified issues which presented a serious risk to the interests of its tenants and service users and Fairfield did not have the capacity to address these issues.
“We are grateful to the statutory appointees for their support and commitment to help Fairfield address the serious and urgent weaknesses that led to our intervention whilst continuing to deliver services to tenants and other service users.
“We are sharing this report so that governing bodies can consider the points in it when carrying out their own regular self-assurance and assessment of compliance with the Regulatory Standards.”
Read our report on our statutory intervention at Fairfield Housing Association
Notes to editors
- The Scottish Housing Regulator was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. Its objective is to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and others who use local authority and RSL housing services. The Regulator operates independently of Scottish Ministers and is accountable directly to the Scottish Parliament. It assumed its full regulatory responsibilities on 1 April 2012. The Regulator consists of the Chair and eight Board members. More information about the Regulator can be found on its website at housingregulator.gov.scot
- SHR sets out how it regulates social landlords in its published framework – Regulation of Social Housing in Scotland.