The regulator that encouraged Dumfries housing association DGHP to enlist its own "internal auditors" to conduct a £5400 investigation into its own £38 million contract with a failing builder also ordered a rival local housing association to appoint "governance consultants" - one of whom worked from Singapore - at a total cost of £100,000, following a boardroom standoff.

Sources close to Loreburn ­Housing Association, which manages 2456 homes in Dumfries and Galloway, have told the Sunday Herald that the regulator "instructed" the housing association to appoint consultant Karen Anderson in August 2011 to look at the association's governance, at a cost of £845 per day plus expenses, totalling around £45,000. For five of the nine months of her contract - awarded without a full tender process being carried out - Anderson worked from her home in Singapore.

Although no evidence of wrongdoing at Loreburn was uncovered then or since, the appointment was followed in June 2012 by that of another "governance consultant", Dr Fiona Underwood, based in Exeter, for a daily rate of £1000 plus expenses "for up to eight days a month for an indefinite period".

The source said that the 18 months of Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) interventions have cost Loreburn in excess of £100,000 "by the time all the required legal advice is added to the consultant appointments". As is the case with all governance costs in social housing, the money would otherwise have been used to maintain housing stock for tenants.

The new accusations of inconsistent and unexplained actions by the SHR echo others made in the Scottish Parliament last month. Leading figures in the sector listed the imposition of expensive consultants among grievances about the SHR in evidence to Holyrood's infrastructure and capital expenditure committee.

On November 26, David Bookbinder of Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations and Alan Stokes of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations accused the regulator of being inconsistent, secretive and heavy-handed in its dealings with the sector.

Bookbinder said: "There is an obsessive preoccupation [by the SHR] with insisting on the appointment of particular consultants that the regulator favours. These consultants are almost always English and almost always cost well in excess of £1000 a day of tenants' money."

He also hinted at fear of the regulator within the sector, suggesting the committee meet members in camera, given "a reluctance among our members to stick their head above the parapet".

He advocated an "independent appeal mechanism" to challenge "heavy-handed" behaviour by the regulator, which he said made associations "feel guilty until proved innocent". He also criticised it for dealing with "trivia", resulting in it "missing something much bigger that was going on somewhere else".

John McNaught, convener of Loreburn Housing Association, said: "The latest regulation plan published acknowledged that Loreburn is working its way through its governance action plan and has made significant progress … An updated plan is due to be issued and confirms that the association has completed its governance action plan, with the exception of the recruitment of its chief executive, which is currently under way."

Michael Cameron, chief executive of the SHR, said: "We identified serious governance and management weaknesses at Loreburn Housing Association. We acted decisively to address these. Loreburn's board co-operated with us throughout our engagement and the organisation is now in a healthier state."

Cameron will be given the chance to answer critics of the SHR at the infrastructure committee on Wednesday.