The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published its latest governance and consumer gradings for 35 councils, with one landlord being downgraded due to "serious failings".
Publishing its verdict on 27 November 2024, RSH revealed that it had downgraded its governance rating for Notting Hill Genesis (NHG), landlord of 67,000 homes, after an inspection found “serious regulatory concerns”.
“NHG’s risk management, internal controls, and assurance framework are not robust enough to enable the board to identify and manage risks. We found limited evidence of NHG’s board providing effective oversight of landlord health and safety compliance. While improvements are in progress, the range of issues that have arisen is challenging,” the regulator said.
Notably, there was a “substantial backlog” of overdue fire remediation actions, a lack of data on whether legal requirements had been met in a large number of third-party managed buildings, a repairs backlog, and a lack of up-to-date accurate data.
NHG received a first consumer rating of C3, and its governance rating was changed from G1 to G3. A C3 grading means “there are serious failings, and they need to make significant improvements”. As reported by Housing Today, chief executive of NHG, Patrick Franco said: “Today's regulatory judgement is very disappointing for Notting Hill Genesis, but it confirms the need for us to redouble efforts in our ongoing drive to become a more resident-focused organisation.”
Franco said that £770 million will be invested over the next 10 years, adding that RSH’s judgement “also reinforces the need for long-term government support if social housing providers in London are to achieve the higher standards rightly expected of us”.
Also receiving a C3 grading were Southwark Council, Southampton Council,?and West Northamptonshire Council. In particular, Southwark Council was found to have almost 2,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions and had failed to self-refer “despite more than half of homes having no smoke alarms”.
Responding to RSH’s judgement, Southwark Council said it was taking action to “become a good landlord” and writing to every council home to “apologise for previous failings and explain how it will improve”.
It said it had taken action over the issue of overdue fire safety actions to make it a priority, adding that in the last three years, it had spent almost £20 million on fire safety: “The council has set aside a further budget of about £10m for fire safety work and will allocate more money if needed. We’re also seeking to procure a new specialist fire safety contractor.”
Leader of Southwark Council, Councillor Kieron Williams said: “I want to apologise to tenants who have been let down. We will continue to drive up the quality of our services and homes for you. Whilst we have made progress, we know there is much more to do.
“We will be making sure our action plan delivers the improvements that the regulator has identified. We’re investing over £250 million over the next three years to make our homes safe and decent.
“We’re improving our repairs, complaints, and housing allocations services and establishing a new Housing Management Board - with tenants round the table - so you can hold us to account.
“We’ll also be continuing our work with the government and councils across the country to tackle the £2.2 billion black hole in our national council housing finances, so together we can secure the long-term funding settlement needed to fully lift council homes across the country up to modern safe, healthy and green standards.”
Commenting on the judgements, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at?RSH, Kate Dodsworth said: “Landlords must have robust systems to identify and manage risk. We assess providers’ governance for those landlords within our economic remit.
“We also expect all landlords to take the health and safety of tenants in their homes extremely seriously. They must listen to tenants’ concerns, acting swiftly to resolve any issues and this cannot be achieved without accurate, up-to-date data.
“We are engaging intensively with the landlords in each of these cases as they work to put things right for tenants. A self-referral is a positive sign that a landlord is taking accountability and understands their responsibilities.”