Latest news with #RegulatorOfSocialHousing
BBC News
27-06-2025
- BBC News
'Serious failings' with Slough Borough Council's social housing
There were "serious failings" in the way a council allocated housing and treated its tenants, inspectors have Regulator of Social Housing said it was not assured Slough Borough Council's housing service allocated homes in a "fair and transparent way" and found recent evidence of "serious tenancy fraud".Its report said the authority, which owns almost 6,000 homes, needed to make "significant improvement" but acknowledged it had "recently put in place more effective controls and oversight for allocations".The council said it wanted to put "tenants back at the heart of our service" and hoped improvements would be apparent soon. Inspectors said there were serious problems in the county's approach to complaint handling and tenant engagement report noted the authority had a "good understanding of the condition of its homes".It also said it was "meeting all legal requirements" relating to the health and safety of tenants, except electrical and fire safety where hundred of certificates and risk assessments were overdue, with "limited engagement with tenants around building safety". The regulator awarded Slough Borough Council a C3 grade which is just one higher than the worst possible Stedmond, the councillor responsible for housing, said the authority would use the inspection to help it improve."Our aim is to put our tenants back at the heart of our service, engaging with them and listening to them to do much better and delivering the standards they deserve," he said."We have been increasing the capacity and resources within the housing team and we will be using the results of this inspection to re-engage with our tenants as we implement plans to improve our services." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
West Northamptonshire Council to bring social housing in-house
Social housing in Northampton will be brought back in-house after a number of "failings" were identified in the last couple of Northamptonshire Council's 11,500 homes were managed by Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH).Charlie Hastie, cabinet member for housing, told a meeting on Tuesday: "Transparency, accountability and legal and safe is the overriding driving force of what we've got to do, and it has not been forthcoming [by NPH] in the last year or so."The cabinet voted in favour of bringing it in-house, and it was the first major decision by the Reform UK-led council after the party took control of the authority in the local elections in May. NPH is an arms-length management organisation (ALMO), first established by the now defunct Northampton Borough Council in 2015. It is responsible for repairs and maintenance, housing development and management, including dealing with anti-social behaviour, tenancy support and the Ecton Lane Park traveller council's housing stock included key estates in Kings Heath, Kingsthorpe, and Spring Boroughs in the town. It included high-rise blocks, a range of 1 to 6-bed properties and supported accommodation, 15 community hubs, older persons' accommodation and more than 2,000 year, the then Conservative-controlled West Northamptonshire Council announced it was taking "immediate steps" to address the "performance failings" of NPH. It also confirmed it had referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).The review by the RSH found some council-managed homes failed to meet national safety and quality the concerns in the report was inaccurate data reporting, including overdue fire risk assessments for 180 the local authority confirmed that all outstanding fire safety checks were completed by December 2024 'Safe, responsive and accountable' The cabinet discussed three options for the future management of homes in the group leader Sally Keeble told the cabinet meeting: "There's only one realistic option on the table about bringing it back in-house; however, I don't think that is remotely adequate to deal with the scale and the size of the problems."When you look at this option, there really does need to be a full options appraisal [of all the housing stock in West Northamptonshire]."The Conservative group leader, Dan Lister, said: "These aren't the only three options that have been presented before us, and there are significantly more options that we should be considering."Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Jonathan Harris, said: "ALMO's an interesting term - arms-length - it feels to me like it's been a very very long arm."Hastie said bringing it in-house was to ensure residents received "the best possible housing service".He added: "One that is safe, responsive, and accountable. By bringing this provision back in-house, we can simplify governance, strengthen compliance, and have greater control over quality while also providing tenants with the best value for money."The cabinet voted unanimously to bring it back in-house. The council will undertake a full consultation in July to hear directly from tenants and leaseholders. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
24-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Northants Council considers bringing social housing back in-house
A decision is set to be taken about whether to bring social housing in Northampton back Northamptonshire Council's cabinet meet on Tuesday to consider three options for the future management of homes in the town with councillors recommended to bring them back under direct Reform UK council's 11,500 homes are currently managed by Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH).Charlie Hastie, cabinet member for housing at West Northamptonshire Council, said: "This is a significant decision that would allow us to simplify governance, deliver better value for money and, most importantly, ensure our residents continue to receive a safe, responsive and accountable housing service." 'Performance failings' NPH is an arms-length management organisation (ALMO), first established by the now defunct Northampton Borough Council in 2015. It is responsible for repairs and maintenance, housing development and management including dealing with anti-social behaviour, tenancy support and the Ecton Lane Park traveller year the then Conservative-controlled West Northamptonshire Council announced it was taking "immediate steps" to address the "performance failings" of NPH. It also confirmed it had referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).The review by the RSH found some council-managed homes failed to meet national safety and quality approved, the council will begin a full consultation over the summer to hear directly from tenants and leaseholdersAt the meeting on Tuesday, the cabinet will also be discussing three large affordable housing projects that were being delivered by NPH. All the projects have faced "significant viability challenges" and the council has already taken on responsibility for the delivery of these schemes. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
08-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Newcastle City Council struggling to contact 296 mould-hit homes
A council says it is struggling to contact close to 300 people who had previously reported damp and mould in their City Council inherited more than 1,800 reports from management organisation Your Homes Newcastle, which was abolished last the 491 outstanding cases it still had last month, the local authority said it had now attempted to contact each of the residents "despite numerous attempts" it had failed to make contact with 296 residents with the details it had on file, a spokesperson said. The council said work was either due to start "imminently" or had already been completed on the homes of the 195 residents it had been able to the other 296 properties, it said it was working through its procedures to contact the residents and "get them booked in for repairs as soon as possible".The authority took control of about 25,000 properties from Your Homes Newcastle last had pledged to deal with the backlog in damp and mould reports at a rate of 50 homes per build-up of problems was among the issues cited by the Regulator of Social Housing as it warned of "serious failings" in the city council's housing stock in a judgement earlier this year and ordered the council to make improvements. Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Housing regulator finds 'serious failings' in Brent Council
The housing regulator has highlighted "serious failings" by Brent Council in ensuring the health and safety of its tenants, including fire risk cases that had been closed despite not being completed. The north-west London authority referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in April after it "identified weaknesses" in how it followed up on completing housing repairs and said it had "let tenants down".The RSH's review focused on the safety and quality standard of Brent Council as a landlord and found "significant improvement" was council said it was "determined to improve the quality" of its homes and had "made real progress in recent months". 'High risk' Brent Council owns around 8,800 homes across London, most of which are under its direct management, alongside an additional 4,000 leasehold homes in blocks, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).The law requires councils to have up to date evidence of the condition of the homes under its management, as well as for necessary works to be carried out "within appropriate timescales".The LDRS found that within the last year, about 12,500 actions arising from fire risk assessments had been closed by the council. However, the council referred itself to the regulator after a spot check revealed that despite a case being closed "evidence of the completion of the actions was not available in all instances and some actions had not been completed at all". Most of these were deemed to be of a high and medium risk and were being treated as "overdue".The review by the RSH earlier this month revealed the data for fire safety, smoke and carbon monoxide safety, asbestos management and water safety "cannot be reconciled" and the council "is not able to determine which legally required checks and assessments have been completed".It also found that despite the council reporting it has condition data on 95% of its housing stock, almost half of its homes "have not had a recorded survey". 'Much more to do' The council "has plans in place" to understand the impact of its current position, according to the RSH judgement. These include working to understand the root causes of the problems, reviewing the completion of all closed fire safety actions and working to develop a suitable action plan to resolve the RSH judgement added: "We will continue to engage with [Brent Council] as it seeks to address the issues that have led to this judgement. "We are not proposing to use our enforcement powers at this stage but will keep this under review as [Brent Council] seeks to resolve these issues."Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, Brent's cabinet member for housing and resident services, acknowledged there was "still much more to do".She said: "We take our responsibilities as a landlord very seriously and the council accepts that we have let tenants down and for this we apologise unreservedly."We will continue to work proactively, positively and in an open and transparent way with our residents and with the regulator to fix the issues identified."
