industry news


Social landlords punished for health and safety failings


completing gas service checks on time. London based ALMO, Lewisham Homes was


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fined £40,000 for failing to install secure fire doors and carry out regular risk assessments before a fire that caused the deaths of two women in a tower block. It also had to pay £23,407 in court costs. Two hundred miles away in Lancashire, Bolton at


Home, was criticised by its regulator, the Homes & Communities Agency, for failing to carry out gas safety checks on 160 properties despite identifying and reporting the problem itself.


Lewisham fire


The Lewisham case arose when a tenant set fire to her flat on the 16th floor which then spread to a neighbouring flat and resulted in the deaths of two women. Two other residents whose flat had a self- locking fire door escaped unharmed. The tenant was sentenced to two counts of manslaughter and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. At an earlier hearing, Lewisham Homes pleaded


guilty to failing to maintain fire doors at some of the flats and failure to carry out regular risk assessments, in breach of the Fire Safety Order 2005. At the time of the fire in 2011, it had been over two years since a fire risk assessment had been carried out. Assessments are meant to be conducted annually. At Woolwich Crown Court, Judge Justice


Christopher Hehir ordered the ALMO to pay £40,000 plus £23,407 in costs. Justice Hehir said the fine was “much less” than he would fine “a large company generating profit” in recognition that the ALMO provides a “public good”. Justice Hehir said the failure to ensure all flats


had functioning self-closing fire doors was a “thoroughly dangerous situation… which had in fact existed for some time”. He said high-risk blocks of flats “can quickly become a death trap” when a fire breaks out. The judge praised the ALMO for its “full


co-operation” with the fire authorities and police investigation, and for its “full compliance” with the enforcement notice that was issued. A spokesperson for Lewisham Homes said: “We


accept our failings under the fire safety regulations and take residents’ safety very seriously. We have


HMM Stats


Back in 2004-5, just 30 per cent of households in the private rented sector were families with dependent children, representing 700,000 households. Now there are around 1.6 million families renting privately in England, an increase of 912,000 more households with children in the private rented sector than a decade earlier.


wo different social landlords have been taken to task for putting their tenants at risk over failings in fire safety and


been determined to learn lessons and invested heavily year on year to continually improve fire safety, and have made significant progress over the past five years.” Since 2011, it has spent £10.8 million to


improve fire safety standards, carries out regular reviews of risk assessments and has recruited specialist fire safety staff.


“London based ALMO, Lewisham Homes was fined £40,000 for failing to install secure fire doors and carry out regular risk assessments before a fire that caused the deaths of two women”


Missed gas safety checks


In a regulatory notice, the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) said 18,000-home Bolton at Home breached the regulator’s ‘serious detriment’ threshold for intervening on tenant-related cases. In mid-October last year, Bolton at Home


contacted the regulator to say it had found 160 of its properties to be without a valid gas safety certificate. As a result the landlord breached the regulator’s ‘home standard’ and there was the potential for serious detriment to Bolton at Home’s tenants. “In some cases the certificates had been expired


for a number of years,” the HCA notice said. “The breach exposed a number of tenants to the potential of serious harm for lengthy periods.” Bolton at Home has since completed the


outstanding gas safety checks and confirmed to the HCA that all of its properties now have valid certificates. The landlord has instigated an internal and an external investigation of the issue and has developed an action plan to make sure the situation does not happen again. A spokesperson for the association said: “Our


instant response was to gas service each property and instigate an independent investigation, which identified the cause to be a data issue. We have since put processes in place to ensure this does not happen again. The HCA has confirmed to us that no further action is required.”


Newark and Sherwood Homes invest in tech, enhancing customer service


investing in a brand new telephony system. The new system aims to enhance Newark


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and Sherwood Homes’ tenants and stakeholders experience when making an enquiry, helping to decrease the average waiting time for users. The system’s soft launch in December is


already achieving benefits for customers by enabling calls to be answered more quickly and it is planned that the benefits will continue to grow as customers get familiar with the system. Lynne Collier, customer access manager at


Newark and Sherwood Homes, said: “We could not be more pleased with the new service, which is an excellent resource for our tenants and stakeholders.


“The system’s soft launch in December is already achieving benefits for customers by enabling calls to be answered more quickly and it is planned that the benefits will continue to grow”


“When our customer access team was


established in 2012 we inherited our previous system, which over time no longer met the growing needs of our tenants and stakeholders, who needed diverse responses through one telephony system.” The new system also marks a critical


milestone in the development of Newark and Sherwood Homes, which is currently evolving its brand and website to further appeal to and support its customers. Lynne added: “Thanks to the new system,


we are able to better equip ourselves for every call, making sure we have all of the necessary information to hand to support our callers.” The new system has been divided into


multiple subjects: repairs, housing, rent, Lifeline services and council enquiries.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM March 2016 | 19


ousing provider Newark and Sherwood Homes has responded to its tenants and stakeholder’s needs,


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