Industry News


London council found to have missed essential safety checks on thousands of its homes


G


reenwich Council in south east London has been issued with a regulatory notice aſter checks found it had failed to carry


out essential health and safety assessments on thousands of its homes, including checks for fire, electrical, water and asbestos safety. Te council self referred itself to the regulator


earlier this year and had started putting in place a programme to address the issues identified. Te regulator of social housing is closely monitoring how it delivers this work. Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer


Regulation at the regulator, said: “We welcome the council’s self referral which recognises that the failure to meet health and safety requirements has put tenants at potential risk.” Greenwich told the regulator it had not


completed electrical safety checks for every property which needed one, and that remedial actions from fire risk assessments were overdue. It also reported that it did not have current water


safety risk assessments for all communal residential blocks and there was not a programme for reviewing asbestos surveys. As a registered provider, Greenwich Council


is required to comply with the consumer standards, including the Home Standard. Te Home Standard requires registered providers to have a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service and to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of tenants in their homes. An investigation by the regulator found


there were more than 400 outstanding fire risk assessments, and hundreds of high-risk remedial actions from the assessments were also outstanding. With regards to electrical safety, the council


reported that more than 1,000 communal and in excess of 10,000 domestic properties did not have a current electrical condition report. For asbestos safety, Greenwich did not have valid communal asbestos surveys for hundreds


More people looking at shared housing to combat rising costs


With rising energy bills and inflation at a 40 year high, an increasing number of tenants are looking for cheaper, all-inclusive rented accommodation in shared housing. Since the last increase in utility bills was


announced, many landlords in the professional HMO investment network, Platinum Property Partners (PPP), have received more than 30 applications for every room to rent within the first 24 hours of it being advertised. Going forward they are expecting this to at


Improved access to Ombudsman services from October


Changes to the Ombudsman’s service from October have made it easier for social housing tenants to access the service if they remain unhappy with their


least double, with Houses in Multiple Occupation appearing to offer an affordable renting alternative. Compared to renting a one-bedroom flat plus bills, renting an all-inclusive room in a professional HMO remains more than 40 per cent cheaper and ensures greater certainty with just a single bill. Emma Hayes, Managing Director of Platinum


Property Partners, said: “Te astronomical hike in energy costs is causing a significant spike in tenants looking to rent a room in a shared house compared to a single-occupancy property.


landlord’s final response to their complaint. Te ‘democratic filter’ has been removed aſter a


change in the law, so tenants no longer have to refer their complaint to a designated person or wait eight weeks before the Ombudsman can consider their complaint. Under the previous process, if residents were


unable to resolve their complaint through their landlord’s complaints own procedures they could contact a designated person (such as their MP or local councillor) to help find a solution or refer it direct to the Ombudsman service. If residents decided against contacting a


designated person, legislation required eight weeks 22 | HMMOctober/November 2022 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


of blocks and there were just over 300 overdue high risk remedial actions which had not been complete since July 2019. With regards to water safety, Greenwich did not have current risk assessments for more than 80 residential communal blocks. Te regulator considered the case as a potential


breach of part 1.2 of the Home Standard and concluded that Greenwich Council did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities across a range of areas, and to demonstrate that it was compliant across these areas. Te council has started to put in place a


programme to rectify these failures and has assured the regulator it is taking action to remedy the breach of standard. Te regulator decided not take statutory action at this stage but will work with the council as it continues to address the issues, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.


“As they struggle to pay current market rents and


rising bills, HMO accommodation provides a level of certainty with one monthly payment inclusive of bills, which is more than 40 per cent cheaper than renting alone. But even HMO rents are not immune to the soaring cost of living and running a business and even housemates will see a rise in rents eventually. “Te actual cost of running a professional HMO


property has increased 50 per cent almost overnight and irrespective of higher mortgage rates, we’ve calculated that our landlords would need to increase rents by £100 per room per property just to cover this increase in energy costs, which they pay for. “Despite HMO investment generating up to four


times as much rental income as single-occupancy buy-to-let, there is not an endless pot of reserves.”


to pass before the complaint could be sent to the Ombudsman. Both aspects have now been dropped. Removing this barrier is meant to ensure that


tenants have direct access to the Ombudsman, as well as helping to speed up the complaints resolution process. Te Ombudsman is expecting an initial influx of complaints with demand for their service expected to increase, affecting processing timescales. Tenants complaints are not investigated before


they have completed their landlord’s complaints process, but steps can be taken to encourage landlords and residents to work together to resolve a complaint.


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