High Court upholds regulatory judgement against specialist supported housing provider (Inclusion Housing Community Interest Company v Regulator of Social Housing)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Local Government analysis: A rare case of a challenge to a non-compliant regulatory judgement issued by the Social Housing Regulator. Inclusion Housing Community Interest Company (Inclusion) is a lease-backed specialist social housing landlord providing homes for those with physical disability and mental health needs. Its business model is based on leasing residential property acquired through investment funds and then renting these units to tenants. As such the provider has few assets and is instead reliant on long-term rental streams from benefit related income to finance its portfolio. In February 2019 the regulator issued a finding that it was non-compliant with its governance and financial viability standards. The provider’s challenge failed before the High Court. Written by Kevin Long, solicitor, at Hackney Community Law Centre.