THE organisation which runs South Lakeland's social housing stock has been given a top rating by the sector's regulator.

South Lakes Housing (SLH) received the highest score for ‘governance’ and ‘financial viability’ following a regulatory assessment by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The HCA is the national housing and regeneration agency and social housing regulator in England.

This is the first regulatory judgement for social landlord South Lakes Housing following the transfer of homes from South Lakeland District Council in March 2012.

The HCA’s rating was awarded following a detailed review of the way SLH operates including its board of management, financial performance and risk management arrangements.

John Holmes, chairman of the SLH Board, said: “This is an outstanding result for a new landlord. I would like to thank the stewardship of our former chairman Mary Dowling and the management team and staff for their hard work.

"The board will continue to focus on investing in our tenants’ homes and hope to use this judgement to explore opportunities which bring additional social and economic benefits to future tenants and the wider South Lakeland community”.

SLH's chief executive Peter Thomas said “I hope our tenants feel reassured by the regulator’s positive judgement. Customer service remains our top priority and we are looking forward to completing all of the promises that we made to tenants.”