The action was taken as Thistle no longer manages or rents homes and no longer carries out social housing activities following the transfer, which was completed last month.

The Regulator used its statutory powers to direct a transfer of Thistle’s assets earlier this year after consultation with Thistle’s tenants and factored owners and after an independent ballot saw 92% of Thistle’s tenants vote ‘yes’ to the transfer. 

The Regulator said it took this action to safeguard the interests of tenants and service users after its statutory intervention and Thistle’s independent investigations identified serious breaches of regulatory requirements, including failures in governance and leadership and failures to comply with health and safety obligations relating to tenants, residents and employees. 

Ian Brennan, director of regulation, said: “We have removed Thistle from the register of social landlords and as it no longer meets the criteria for registration.

“We used our statutory powers to direct the transfer because of the serious and widespread failures in Thistle’s governance and leadership.

“We will continue to engage with Sanctuary Scotland as it delivers on the commitments it made to Thistle’s former tenants and service users.”

The Regulator published an updated engagement plan for Sanctuary in March.