Trio of landlords fail to meet Regulator of Social Housing’s fire standards

Bristol City Council could not satisfactorily evidence that it’s meeting carbon monoxide safety requirements for over 22,000 homes (out of a total estate of 26,700 dwellings). It also reported 1,900 open damp and mould cases, more than 16,000 overdue repairs and circa 3,000 overdue fire safety actions. In addition, Bristol City Council does not have up-to-date data about the condition of tenants’ properties.

Guildford Borough Council has around 1,700 homes under its direction without an up-to-date electrical condition report (out of circa 5,200 total homes), and it could not provide evidence that it has completed around 1,300 fire safety actions. In addition, Guildford Borough Council has not collected Tenant Satisfaction Measures from its tenants, which is something all social landlords are required to do.

Octavia Housing currently has 1,200 overdue fire safety remedial actions across its 5,000 homes. The organisation was unable to provide evidence that it’s meeting other Health and Safety requirements, while it doesn’t hold complete and accurate records for safety inspections.

Bristol City Council, Guildford Borough Council and Octavia Housing have each been given a C3 grading by the Regulator of Social Housing, which means there are serious failings and that significant improvements must be made.

All of the landlords are working to address the identified issues and put things right for their tenants. For its part, the Regulator of Social Housing is working with the landlords involved as they do so.

New approach, new tools

Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing, explained: “Landlords must provide safe and decent homes for tenants, have an effective complaints process in place and put things right when there are problems. The judgements we’ve published show that each of these landlords have issues which they need to address promptly.”

Dodsworth added: “All landlords need to make sure they deliver the outcomes outlined within our standards and inform us when there are material issues. Our new approach to regulation, which began back in April, gives us new tools to scrutinise landlords’ performance and, where there are issues, drive them to deliver long-term improvements for the benefit of tenants.”  

These judgements are a result of the Regulator of Social Housing’s responsive engagement. This is where the Regulator of Social Housing investigates information that’s referred by landlords, tenants and other stakeholders.

Separately, the Regulator of Social Housing is also carrying out planned inspections of all large social landlords (I those with over 1,000 homes under their jurisdiction) over a four-year cycle. The Regulator of Social Housing expects to publish the outcomes of the first inspections during the course of the next couple of months.