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Editor’s comment


Will fi xed penalty fi nes be issued to housing managers?


Patrick Mooney, News Editor


T e Government has outlined its very busy agenda for housing, with new beefed-up regulatory systems outlined for both the private and social rented sectors. In among the detail of the new powers for the social housing regulator we saw that fi nes could be levied where disrepair cases and tenant’s complaints have not been dealt with satisfactorily. Does this raise the prospect of senior managers being stuck with fi xed penalty notice fi nes, in a similar way to how the Metropolitan Police have been issuing fi nes for those in and around 10 Downing Street who broke lockdown rules by attending parties?


I guess it might do (in which case what about the senior executives and board members who are supposed to oversee their work?) but we will have to wait for the Bill to be published before deciding whether this is a good or bad thing and is it likely to deliver improved housing conditions and better services for tenants. What is more likely I suspect is that any fi nes will be levied on the landlord organisations, rather than on the individuals. However, if this is the route taken then I can see tenants getting very hot under the collar. Aſt erall is it right to use rent money to pay fi nes for service failures and in doing so, take money away from the housing service?


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I can see a whole new set of insurance schemes being devised to provide cover for worried managers and executives, to protect them from fi nes or being sued for poor service. It will certainly kick off an interesting discussion about responsibility and liability. Management Team and Board discussions on this topic should be particularly informative. T is is not to trivialise the matter, far from it but something clearly had to be done to change the narrative. Over the past 18 months we have seen a string of bad news stories, prompted by investigations on ITV news and in other news outlets, about poor services being endured for years at a time by tenants of both housing associations and councils. Tenants had oſt en been raising wholly legitimate concerns about disrepair cases involving damp, mould, condensation, leaks and infestations. T ey had either been patronised and ignored, or where action was taken, it was ineff ectual and failed to resolve the problem.


Ministers clearly decided enough was enough and decided to toughen up the regulatory framework, giving the regulator of social housing a wider brief to intervene and take fi rmer action. Of course it could be argued that such action should have been taken twelve years ago when the last major changes to regulation were made. T is established the co-regulatory approach where social landlords were expected to take much of the responsibility for regulating and governing themselves. T e changes now being made suggests in the fi rmest of terms that the co-regulatory approach has not worked. If we are to avoid a ‘disrepairgate’, then fundamental changes in the culture of social landlords and how tenants are treated is badly needed and overdue.


T e Government has also been busy making changes to the private rented market, fi nally delivering the axe to Section 21 no fault evictions, which have been a bone of contention between landlords and tenants for many years. But alongside this, Ministers are making other changes including establishing an Ombudsman to settle disputes without going to court, providing an information portal and extending the Decent Homes Standard to the private sector. It has stopped short of introducing rent controls (despite the cost of living crisis) and it has not established a national register of landlords, but taken together this is probably the biggest set of regulatory demands imposed on the private rented sector for an awfully long time. For this to be done by a Conservative Government, which says it is aiming to lighten the burden on businesses it was something of a surprise.


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Much remains to be seen in the detail of the new legislation, not least of which in the timing of the changes and whether fi nancial support will be forthcoming to help with implementing new duties and responsibilities. A beefed up regulator and a new Ombudsman does suggest that additional staff will be needed to oversee both parts of the rented sector, but how smoothly will these be set up when the Government has said it is intent on cutting 90,000 civil service jobs. Another mystery is whether the Government will proceed with its threat to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants. If they do, then who would rule out it being extended to private tenants in the future.


HOUSING MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE


JUNE/JULY 2022 Raising the roof for Patrick Mooney


social housing retrofits Stuart Nicholson of Marley discusses some of the ways a full roof system, incorporating solar PV, can have a positive impact on rising energy prices. See report inside


Stuart Nicholson of Marley discusses some of the ways a full roof system, incorporating solar PV, can have a positive impact on rising energy prices. See page 38


HMM0607_2022 Covers.indd 1 09/06/2022 08:38


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On the cover...


4 | HMM June/July 2022 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


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