Regulation and Co-Regulation

We, Estuary Housing Association Limited (EHA), were founded in the 1970s to provide housing for people priced out of the private housing market. We are a Community Benefit Society registered with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - Mutuals Register, Registration no. 23240 R. Some of our activities also mean that we are authorised by the FCA to conduct some consumer credit activities.

We're an exempt charity, which means rather than being primarily regulated by the Charity Commission, we are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), which is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

More information on the the Housing Regulation review can be found on the .gov website. 

The most update to date details of the Housing Regulatory Framework can be found on the .gov website. 

We are also a member of the Housing Ombudsman Service, which independently investigates customer complaints.

Although our regulatory framework is currently under review, the principle of co-regulation is likely to remain at its heart.

This approach to regulation means that we are committed to being as transparent as possible with our customers (and other stakeholders), allowing them to hold us to account for the way we provide services. We seek to consult widely with our customers, when we consider making changes to our service provision and we publish performance information on our website and in reports. We also make summaries of our Board meetings publicly available. 

We value our customers’ perspectives, and their combined experience and skills help us we continue to provide quality housing and services in our communities.

Our Resident Voice and Influence Panel (Resident VIP) works with us to monitor performance, promote transparency, raise and resolve issues across the business for a better resident experience, all with the aim to promote co-regulation in service improvement. It is only with feedback from our customers that we can continue to provide affordable housing across Essex, the three outer East London Boroughs and the Suffolk Coastal District, which our customers are proud to call home.