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Global Accounts 2025: What Rising Repairs Spend Means for Risk, Compliance, and Board Oversight

The Regulator of Social Housing’s 2025 Global Accounts land at a moment of heightened scrutiny for the sector. Financial pressure remains intense, regulatory expectations continue to rise, and landlords are investing at unprecedented levels in existing homes.

While much attention often falls on development pipelines and borrowing capacity, the most telling story in this year’s data sits elsewhere. Rising repairs and maintenance spend is reshaping how risk is distributed across organisations and placing new demands on governance, compliance, and board oversight.

For housing associations looking ahead, the message is increasingly clear: repairs are no longer just an operational concern. They are a core driver of financial risk and regulatory confidence.

Rising Repairs Spend Reflects a Sector Under Pressure

The 2025 Global Accounts show total spend on repairs and maintenance increased by 13% to £10bn in the year to March 2025, with £3.9bn of that capitalised. Forecasts suggest average annual investment in existing homes will reach £10.9bn over the next five years.

This sustained level of spend reflects the scale of challenge facing landlords. Ageing stock, decarbonisation targets, building safety remediation, and the implementation of Awaab’s Law are all converging on repairs services at once.

While investment in existing homes is both necessary and welcome, it inevitably raises the stakes. Every additional pound committed to repairs heightens the importance of understanding where risk sits, how demand is evolving, and whether organisations are intervening early enough to prevent issues escalating into compliance failures.

Compliance Expectations Are Tightening, Not Easing

The Regulator has been clear that financial pressure does not reduce regulatory expectations. In fact, it heightens them.

In its commentary alongside the Global Accounts, the Regulator reiterated that it expects providers to remain proactive, manage risks effectively, and maintain strong contingency plans as pressures persist. Financial viability and consumer outcomes remain closely linked.

Will Perry, Director of Strategy at the Regulator of Social Housing, said: “While it’s important to mention there are some signs of improvement in margins, we will continue to closely monitor landlords’ financial viability to ensure tenants and homes are protected.”

That monitoring increasingly extends into how repairs services are governed. Damp and mould, building safety, and decency issues are no longer viewed as isolated service failures. They are seen as indicators of wider risk management maturity.

Repairs Risk Is Now a Board-Level Issue

The scale of investment highlighted in the Global Accounts reinforces why repairs risk can no longer sit solely within operational teams.

Total sector debt rose to £105.4bn, while the value of housing assets increased to £218.2bn, largely reflecting investment in existing homes. As more capital is locked into asset condition and compliance, tolerance for avoidable failure shrinks.

For boards, this changes the nature of oversight. Traditional reporting on repairs volumes and spend is no longer sufficient on its own. Boards need confidence that emerging risks such as repeat damp and mould cases, long-running repairs, or properties with compounding hazards, are being identified early and addressed systematically.

Without that visibility, organisations risk being reactive, learning about problems only once they surface through complaints, Ombudsman findings, or regulatory engagement.

From Reactive Repairs to Proactive Risk Management

One of the most important shifts implied by the Global Accounts is the move from reactive compliance to proactive risk management.

The Housing Ombudsman has repeatedly stressed the consequences of failing to identify and act on repairs risks early. In its systemic reports, it has highlighted that delays, poor record-keeping, and fragmented data often underpin service failure — not lack of intent.

For landlords, this means repairs data is no longer just operational information. It is a risk signal.

Understanding which properties, households, or repair types are most likely to escalate allows providers to intervene sooner, reduce harm, and control costs. It also provides boards with assurance that investment is being directed where it will have the greatest preventative impact.

Data and Insight Are Becoming Central to Assurance

As repairs demand grows, so does the challenge of prioritisation. Teams are managing higher volumes, more complex cases, and stricter timeframes, often with limited additional capacity.

According to Suzy Thomas, Repairs Success Director at Mobysoft, the organisations coping best are those using insight to guide decisions.

“Rising repairs spend isn’t just about volume — it’s about complexity and risk,” she said. “Providers need to understand which cases are likely to escalate, where compliance risk is building, and how to intervene earlier. Without that insight, teams end up firefighting, and boards only see the problem once it’s already serious.”

This focus on insight aligns closely with regulatory expectations. Being able to demonstrate that risks are known, monitored, and actively managed is becoming just as important as resolving individual cases.

Two business professionals analyze the financial viability of housing associations as they review reports. One uses a calculator, while charts and graphs are spread across the table. The office setting is bathed in warm, natural light, fostering a focused yet relaxed atmosphere. ©Mobysoft

Financial Headroom Depends on Controlling Repairs Risk

Despite the pressures, the Global Accounts show that the sector continues to access funding. Including refinancing, landlords agreed new facilities of £12.3bn during the year and reported £30.6bn in undrawn facilities.

However, access to finance is underpinned by confidence, from lenders, regulators, and boards themselves. Persistent repairs failures, unmanaged compliance risk, or poor-quality data can quickly undermine that confidence.

In this context, controlling repairs risk is not just about service quality but also heavily involves protecting financial headroom and sustaining long-term investment capacity.

What the Global Accounts Signal for What Comes Next

Taken together, the 2025 Global Accounts point to a sector at a crossroads. Investment in existing homes is both unavoidable and accelerating. At the same time, regulatory scrutiny of repairs, compliance, and consumer outcomes is intensifying.

For boards and executive teams, the implication is clear. Repairs must be viewed through a risk lens, supported by better data, earlier intervention, and stronger assurance.

Those who make that shift will be better placed to protect tenants, satisfy regulators, and sustain financial resilience. Those who don’t risk finding that rising spend delivers diminishing returns and increasing exposure. The Global Accounts don’t just describe the scale of the challenge. They make clear where leadership focus must now sit.

If you want to understand how intelligent repairs insight can help your organisation identify risk earlier, prioritise the right cases, and demonstrate clear, auditable compliance, while improving outcomes for residents, speak to Mobysoft. Get in touch to discover how RepairSense® is helping housing providers across the UK strengthen compliance, reduce avoidable failure, and stay ahead of evolving regulatory expectations.

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