The Charity Commission is investigating My Space Housing Solutions (MSHS). A recent BBC Panorama programme revealed property sales worth more than £120m linked to developer Paul O’Rourke and MSHS, which Mr O’Rourke helped to set up.
The Charity Commission opened its investigation last month and is engaging with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) on the matter. The RSH published its first Regulatory Judgement for MSHS since it passed the 1,000 home threshold in December 2020. On Governance, it was judged to be at G3, due to weaknesses in its business planning framework, insufficient risk management processes and internal controls, and a failure on the part of the Board to manage the provider’s affairs well. On Viability, My Space was assessed as V3, due to an inability to provide the RSH with a business plan based on appropriate and reasonable assumptions, as well as possessing no information on long-term stock investment requirements, or evidence that it undertakes stress testing. The RSH was also not assured that My Space’s rents met the requirements of the Rent Standard.