Industry News
HSE investigates ALMO over missing gas safety checks
carrying out hundreds of gas safety checks on appliances in tenants’ homes. East Kent Housing manages around 17,000
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homes on behalf of four councils at Canterbury, Dover, Thanet and Folkestone & Hythe. It is the only ALMO which manages tenants’ homes on behalf of multiple councils. Its responsibilities include the annual servicing of gas boilers for hot water and heating. A spokesman at EKH issued an apology to
residents when the issue first emerged in June. Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury, called the situation “simply unacceptable”. She claimed that at one stage up to 924 homes were affected by delayed or missing services. The ALMO’s spokesman added: “As soon as we became aware of the problem, we worked as quickly
he Health and Safety Executive is investigating a management company of council homes in Kent after delays in
as we could with our four councils to secure a number of additional contractors to support the service. “Our staff have worked evenings and weekends
to contact all residents directly affected to arrange appointments, by letter, visit and telephone, and we are offering evening and weekend slots to make it more convenient for residents. “We are determined to make sure this does not
happen again and we have commissioned an independent investigation into what went wrong and will implement any actions it identifies.” The HSE issued a statement saying it has been
made aware of concerns regarding East Kent Housing and is currently investigating, but was unable to comment further. In a joint statement, the four councils said they
had worked with EKH to secure extra gas engineers and were determined to make sure this did not happen again. The results of an independent
Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury, called the situation “simply unacceptable”
investigation into what went wrong were awaited. Subsequently it emerged there may be further
cases of non-compliance with regards to safety work to tenants’ homes, as a report from Canterbury Council’s chief executive identified potential issues with fire, lift, electrical and legionella works. The city council is understood to be considering
a number of options including consulting its tenants over withdrawing from the ALMO, or keeping it on but with a reformed structure.
South West HA downgraded over health and safety failings
A medium sized social housing landlord has been downgraded over health and safety concerns affecting services to tenants’ homes. The Green Square Group owns 12,000 properties
across Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. Its grading for governance was moved to G2 by the Regulator of Social Housing, meaning that Green Square still complies with the regulator’s requirements but needs to improve aspects of its governance arrangements. The downgrading followed an in-depth
assessment (IDA) which found “a clear lack of leadership around health and safety issues” at
GreenSquare. The HA failed to implement a large number of high priority actions arising from fire risk assessments, as well as gas and lift safety concerns. The regulator’s assessment added: “The
seriousness of the matters identified and the historic lack of oversight on health and safety evidenced during the IDA led us to conclude that there were material governance weaknesses.” Commenting on the judgement, the
association’s chief executive Ruth Cooke said: “The change to our governance grading is of course no surprise following the regulatory
notice issued earlier this year. “We have already apologised unreservedly for
past failings in relation to health and safety, but saying sorry is not enough. What’s most important is ensuring that previous mistakes are not repeated. The regulator has noted the work we have done, and are doing, in this respect and the assurances we have given.” Green Square has committed to undertake a full
governance and risk review, but the regulator said “material issues of relevance to the regulator were not communicated in a timely or proactive way during the course of the IDA”.
Rogue landlord guilty of putting tenants at risk and hit with hefty fine
A rogue landlord in Merseyside has been fined and ordered to pay more than £58,000 after putting vulnerable bedsit tenants at risk. 55-year-old Heather Jackson allowed
tenants to occupy 16 bedsits which she created in a Southport property, despite not having a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence and the building being in a shoddy condition with a
leaking roof and faulty fire alarms. Council inspectors visited the property with
police in December last year and found the fire alarms had been deactivated, escape routes were blocked, a fire exit corridor had been converted into a makeshift kitchen and a fire door had been locked shut. She also failed to provide evidence of gas safety records.
Jackson pleaded guilty to 12 housing standards
offences at South Sefton Magistrates Court. A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “HMO
legislation is put in place to help protect tenants and also serves to ensure landlords comply with all rules and
regulations.This was clearly not the case here and we welcome the outcome at court and the substantial fines imposed. “We want to send a clear message to the small
number of landlords who compromise the safety of their tenants that this is not acceptable and can end up in a court case. As proved today, large fines will be imposed by the courts and we will always act to protect our residents.”
www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM August/September 2019 | 19
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