Industry News


Councilbreaches regulator’sHome Standardover safety failings


Norwich City Council was found to have breached theHome Standard after it referred itself to the social housing regulator, having discovered a series of failings in its safety programmes of work across its housing stock. Shortcomings in the council’s statutory cyclical


works in relation to fire, electrical, asbestos and water safetymeant that tenants inmany of the city’s 17,000 council homes were at risk of harm. At one stage almost 900 electrical safety assessments (due every 5 years) were overdue and upto 500 Legionella Risk Assessments were outstanding. Some of the properties affected were high-risk buildings such as sheltered housing schemes for the elderly. On discovering the problem, the council


appointed an independent expert to conduct detailed safety checks across all the work areas, then put together an urgent work programme to


complete all checks, risk assessments and follow-up work that was needed. It then advised the Regulator of SocialHousing about these matters and the council’s plans to put things right. This is almost identical to the situation that developed at Croydon Council earlier this year. The regulator found that the city council


failed tomeet statutory health and safety requirements in relation to fire, electrical, asbestos and water safety. Of the fire risk assessments that were overdue, some were for a small number of high-risk buildings and sheltered schemes, with the Council “unable to provide information on outstanding FRA remedial actions”. The same situation applied to legionella testing.


In addition the Council could not provide any data on whether communal or domestic asbestos surveys were overdue, howmany or by how long. “Taking


all of this information into account, the regulator concluded that Norwich City Council breached the Home Standard and, as consequence, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants,” the judgement said. A programme of corrective work has


already started, while the regulator was “assured” the council had taken “immediate and appropriate action to mitigate the risks to tenants while the programme is being delivered”. The regulator said it would not take statutory action at this stage because it had assurances that the situation was being remedied. The council saidmost of the outstanding work will be completed by the end of this calendar year, although some of the asbestos work will continue into 2022. AlanWaters, leader of the council, said: “I want


to apologise to our residents for notmeeting all our responsibilities as a landlord. The safety of our residents is, and should always be, at the top of our agenda.We have written to residents in all 17,000 council homes as we want to be open about the issues we have uncovered and explain the steps we are taking to resolve them.”


Ombudsmanrules twolargeHAsguiltyofmaladministration


Two of the country’s largest social housing providers have been found guilty of maladministration by theOmbudsman, after it launched investigations into long running complaintsmade by tenants. A finding ofmaladministration wasmade against


ClarionHousing Group for failing to fix an electrical issue before lockdown and then taking no action throughout, “despite being aware of a damaged electricity cable in the property which meant the resident was without the use of a bedroomfor sevenmonths”. The ombudsman found “potentially dangerous”


electrical issues were first reported at the property in November 2019. The property was passed as


satisfactory in error when the electrics at the property should have been deemed “unsatisfactory”. Clarion was ordered to pay compensation of £1,400. The tenant reported sockets were not working


correctly and despite several visits by contractors, the problems were not rectified. The tenant was unable to use one bedroomfor sevenmonths because it had no electricity. In a separate case, The Guinness Partnership


was judged to have delivered poor complaint- handling when it failed to consider where a resident should stay during repairs to a blocked drain at their property. “That would have avoided the resident’s inconvenience and expense,” the ombudsman


found. Guinness was ordered to either refund the £1,280 in rent that the resident had paid to his parents for staying with them, or refund him the rent paid for his flat while he was absent. Guinness was also ordered to pay £700 in


compensation for the “inconvenience, insufficient response to the resident’s complaints and his request for compensation, replacing an earlier, lower offer”. Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman,


said: “Our approach to openness through publishing decisions promotes accountability, learning and awareness of the difference complaints canmake. They help to illustrate what we find reasonable when considering what is fair in all the circumstances.”


Private landlords forced to rely on savings to cover lost rental income


Themajority of private landlords helping tenants out during the pandemic by cutting their rent absorbed the losses fromtheir own savings according to new research. The research conducted by BVA/BDRC for the


National Residential Landlords Association shows that 61 per cent of those landlords who, in the second quarter of the year, had offered at least one tenant a rent-free or deferred rent period absorbed the losses fromtheir savings. With YouGov figures suggesting that 61 per cent of landlords rent out just one property,


and 34 per cent are retired with rental income representing all or part of their pension, the NRLA is warning that reliance on landlord savings is not sustainable in supporting tenants facing rent problems. Government data shows that in April-May


this year, seven per cent of tenants in England, almost 800,000, were behind with their rent. This wasmore than double the number who said they were in arrears in 2019/20, before lockdown measures started. Responding to the findings, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National


18 | HMMDecember/January 2022 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


Residential Landlords Association said: “These figures show the extent to which


landlords have worked to sustain tenancies as a result of the pandemic,many at the expense of their retirement savings. But this cannot continue indefinitely. “Aftermonths of calling on the Government to


help tenants who through no fault of theirs got behind with their rent, we have welcomed the funding nowmade available to help those affected to pay off COVID rent debts. “It is now vital that councils ensure tenants


who need it can access the funding swiftly. Without this, landlords will be left between a rock and a hard place either expected to sustain rent arrears they cannot afford or to repossess their properties, neither of which we want to see.”


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