Regulator of Social Housing criticises four local authorities over failure to meet consumer standards

The Regulator said the failings at Brighton and Hove City Council, the London Borough of Hackney, South Derbyshire District Council and Ashford Borough Council had been graded as serious and the landlords would need to make significant improvements.

RSH found that Brighton and Hove had:

• failed to ensure that it is meeting electrical safety requirements, with around 3,600 homes not having a current electrical condition report (out of 12,100 homes in total);
• reported more than 500 overdue water safety remedial actions, and more than 600 homes without a water risk assessment. The council also identified 1,700 medium and low-risk fire remedial actions, as well as a backlog of around 8,000 low risk repairs.

The Regulator said Hackney had:

• more than 15,000 homes without a current electrical safety certificate (out of 21,500 homes in total). There was also no evidence of smoke detectors being fitted in almost 9,000 homes, or carbon monoxide detectors in over 400 homes. RSH said;
• 400 homes that have not received a gas safety inspection within the required timeframe. The council also reported more than 1,400 open damp and mould cases in tenants’ homes.

At South Derbyshire meanwhile:

• fewer than half of the homes requiring a fire risk assessment had one in place. Moreover, a number of homes did not have a valid electrical safety certificate, and more than 100 homes required further works due to unsatisfactory certificates;
• the council had also failed to demonstrate a sufficient understanding of its tenants’ homes and RSH could not be assured that South Derbyshire is providing homes of decent quality. The council owns 2,935 social homes in total.

RSH said Ashford:

• had serious failings in how it is meeting health and safety requirements. This included overdue electrical safety checks, incomplete fire remedial actions and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors that had not been installed in some of its 4,800 homes;
• The council also reported that it has not carried out a full stock condition survey for more than 10 years. RSH’s investigation found that complaints were not being recorded consistently and tenants have lacked opportunities to influence decision making about how their services are provided.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said: “Landlords must provide safe and decent homes for tenants by taking a proactive approach to delivering the outcomes of our standards. Making sure tenants’ homes are safe and keeping up-to-date data is key to meeting these objectives, as is ensuring there are effective approaches to handling complaints and engaging with tenants.

“The issues outlined in the judgements published today need to be addressed promptly and we are working intensively with each of the landlords as they put things right for their tenants.”

Cllr Gill Williams, Cabinet member for Housing and New Homes at Brighton and Hove, said: "The findings of this report are extremely serious, and we do not take them lightly.

“We have already introduced new measures to improve our work in each of the areas of concern identified by the Regulator of Social Housing.

“Clearly, however, there is still much work to be done and this council will not shy away from either the criticism within this report, or the urgent hard work needed to improve our services."

Responding for Hackney, Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, Cabinet Member for Housing Services and Resident Participation, said: “We have never hidden the fact that we need to improve the service we provide to the people living in our homes. We have made strides towards this and we are seeing improvements in both performance and resident satisfaction, but we fully acknowledge there is still more to do.

“As one of the biggest social landlords there are huge challenges in delivering high quality services - including a national shortage of council and affordable homes, overcrowding and years of national underinvestment in council housing.

“However, I can reassure everyone that we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. We know the positive impact well maintained, safe and warm housing can have on people’s lives.”

A spokesman for Ashford Borough Council said: “We referred ourselves to the Regulator following a commissioned external review that highlighted a number of issues with the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. 

“There has been a dramatic change already with the recruitment to key roles, the big six area all close to being fully compliant and the sub-set compliance issues progressing well. We have a new IT system for monitoring all compliance and this will link into our main housing systems.

“Since the review we have taken swift action and introduced a range of measures aimed at resolving the shortcomings highlighted by the Housing Quality Network. In working closely with the Regulator, we believe we are demonstrating that we fully understand the importance of complying with all aspects of our health and safety obligations, and other areas including complaints handling.”

The spokesman said a robust action plan continued to be worked through, and Ashford was clear about the steps it needed to take to address the outstanding issues and ensure 100% compliance moving forward,

Dr Justin Ives, Chief Executive of South Derbyshire, revealed the council had commissioned a self-assessment against the Housing Consumer Standards and that highlighted areas where the local authority was falling short. It made a self-referral to the RSH in April 2024.

Dr Ives said: “Subsequently, we wrote to tenants informing them we were not meeting the Consumer Standards and giving them our commitment to make changes, not just to meet the Standards, but to become an excellent landlord.

“We also invited tenants to come forward to help us on that journey, and as a result we have increased the size of our re-energized Tenants’ Voice Group. They are now actively engaged in helping us on our improvement journey.”

He added: “As well as engaging additional resource and expertise, we have been working proactively and transparently with The Regulator and Elected Members and have started implementing the improvements needed.

“There is still much to do, and we are concentrating our initial efforts on completing all the safety checks and repairs to ensure our tenants continue to live in safe homes.

“We shall continue to work closely with The Regulator and our Tenants’ Voice Group over the coming months to complete the work needed to become the landlord we aspire to be. We will continue to update tenants regularly and share our progress.”

A Kensington and Chelsea spokesperson said:

"We apologise to the resident involved in this case and fully accept the Ombudsman's findings.

"While we always do our best to find homes that meet our residents' individual needs, there is a shrinking supply of available properties across London, particularly larger or accessible homes.

"Our new Housing Allocation Scheme is focused on increasing that supply by identifying and freeing up accessible properties and incentivising moves into the private rented sector."

Brighton and Hove City Council’s full response is available here.

The London Borough of Hackney’s full response is available here.

Harry Rodd