Five landlords fail to meet RSH’s consumer standards
Five landlords have been given C3 gradings in regulatory judgements published today by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), which means there are serious failings and they need to make significant improvements.
East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Leicester City Council, North Kesteven District Council and Redditch Borough Council have each failed to meet RSH’s consumer standards, introduced on 1 April 2024.
Following responsive engagement with East Suffolk Council, RSH found:
-
Around 50% of its homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
-
Resolution of hazards and damp and mould cases had not been fully tracked.
Today’s regulatory judgement replaces a previous regulatory notice, published in May 2022 about consumer and rent standard failings. RSH now has assurance that East Suffolk has addressed the earlier issues relating to the Rent Standard.
Following its inspection, RSH found Ipswich Council:
-
Had gaps in its data, including in relation to the assessment of hazards in tenants’ homes in line with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), as required by the Decent Homes Standard.
-
Lacked comprehensive data about the diverse needs of its tenants.
Following its inspection, RSH found Leicester City Council:
-
Had not had an electrical safety test for around 70% of its homes.
-
Had a lack of up-to-date information on the condition of most of its homes, with its last comprehensive stock condition survey undertaken in 2009, and those surveys did not include an assessment of HHSRS hazards in line with the Decent Homes Standard.
Following its inspection, RSH found North Kesteven District Council:
-
Is not meeting its targets for routine repairs or voids service.
-
Only a third of its homes had a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) assessment in place as required by the Decent Homes Standard.
Following its inspection, RSH found Redditch Borough Council :
-
Had around 2,900 overdue fire remedial actions including around 800 high risk actions that had been overdue for more than 12 months.
-
Had almost 3,000 overdue repairs.
RSH also published regulatory judgements for 18 further landlords, including first gradings for Grainger Trust (C2/G2/V1), Heart of Medway Housing Association (C1/G1/V1) and M&G UK Shared Ownership (C2/G2/V1).
Two landlords, Bromsgrove District Housing Trust Limited (Bromsgrove) and Empowering People Inspiring Communities Limited (EPIC), were upgraded to G1 for governance. Both retained V2 viability gradings.
Following a period of responsive engagement, Bromsgrove has strengthened its governance arrangements, specifically its risk management and internal control framework as well as aspects of its financial governance arrangements including stress testing and mitigation strategies.
RSH’s inspection of EPIC concluded that governance improvements were supporting the delivery of its corporate objectives and that the board seeks an appropriate level of assurance on key risks including financial performance and capacity.
Curo Group (Albion), Empowering People Inspiring Communities Limited and the London Borough of Enfield received C1 gradings.
Stability check outcomes were published for three landlords: Sage Rented Limited, Sage Homes RP Limited, Legal & General Affordable Homes Limited.
Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:
Our programme of proactive inspections, alongside our ongoing responsive engagement, continues to bring issues to light around health and safety, knowing your stock at an individual level, as well as understanding your tenants’ needs.
These 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.
‘Separately, strong governance enables robust board oversight for private registered providers and supports their ability to assess and respond to challenges, make informed decisions and manage risks.”
Last week RSH published a focus report on the importance of understanding the condition of tenants’ homes which reiterated its expectations of landlords.
Notes to editors
-
On 1 April 2024 RSH introduced new consumer standards for social housing landlords, designed to drive long-term improvements in the sector. It also began a programme of landlord inspections. The changes are a result of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and include stronger powers to hold landlords to account. More information about RSH’s approach is available in its document Reshaping Consumer Regulation.
-
More information about RSH’s responsive engagement, programmed inspections and consumer gradings is also available on its website.
-
RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes. It does this by setting standards and carrying out robust regulation focusing on driving improvement in social landlords, including local authorities, and ensuring that housing associations are well-governed, financially viable and offer value for money. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.
-
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) came into effect on 6 April 2006 and replaces the fitness standard as the statutory element of the Decent Home Standard. To be decent, a dwelling should be free of category 1 hazards (serious and immediate risk), and the existence of such hazards should be a trigger for remedial action unless practical steps cannot be taken without disproportionate expense or disruption.
-
RSH carries out stability checks on all housing associations, and other private registered providers (PRPs), who own 1,000 homes or more. The stability checks are a yearly exercise. We look at the financial information PRPs have submitted to us (including their most recent business plan and annual accounts) and consider if there are any risks which might result in a change to their financial viability or governance gradings. The checks do not include local authorities because our Governance and Financial Viability Standard does not apply to them.
For general enquiries email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk. For media enquiries please see our Media Enquiries page.