‘Fundamental changes’ needed at Haringey as Regulator of Social Housing hands council C4 grading

The Regulator of Social Housing has told Haringey council to make “fundamental changes” to improve outcomes for tenants as it handed the landlord a C4 consumer grade.

An inspection of the north London local authority found serious failings and while the regulator said Haringey had “indicated a willingness to address issues and taken some action”, it had not seen enough evidence that the council understands the potential risk to tenants and can put matters right.

Issues identified by the RSH include a backlog of overdue repairs, delays in completing non-emergency repairs, almost 4,000 overdue remedial fire safety actions, and a failure to inform the RSH about significant issues which had emerged. 

Kate Dodsworth, deputy chief executive of the RSH, said the judgement “sends a clear signal that tenants have been let down and that urgent and sustained improvement is needed”. 

“We will maintain intensive engagement and close oversight, set clear expectations for improvement and, if necessary, use our powers to make sure change happens,” she said, adding that she expected “urgent action” from Haringey.

In a statement on its website, the council, which has been led by a minority Green administration since May, accepted that a “fundamental transformation” of its housing service was needed.

But it also emphasised that the borough’s failure to provide a full picture of its fire safety backlog had occurred under the previous Labour administration.

“While we did not create this crisis, we will prioritise solving it,” said council leader Mark Blake.

“The Grenfell tragedy showed us that nothing is more important than being transparent about fire safety. Staggeringly, under the previous administration the council did not inform the Regulator of Social Housing of the true extent of fire safety risks.”

He announced the council was launching an independent investigation into the matter and would appoint an external expert to “oversee the complete overhaul of our housing services”.

“We have taken the unprecedented step of releasing files that detail our engagement with the Regulator concerning fire safety,” he added.

Today’s regulatory judgement also saw Tamworth Borough Council in Staffordshire and Woking Borough Council in Surrey given C3 consumer grades.

The RSH found serious failings at Tamworth, which failed to show that actions arising from health and safety assessments were carried out in good time. The regulator also identified issues around hazard reporting, among other things, while noting that the borough had engaged constructively.

The regulator found weaknesses in Woking’s completion of overdue fire, water and asbestos remedial actions and said it needed to improve disrepair reporting and communications.

Irwell Valley Housing Association in Greater Manchester and The Pioneer Housing and Community Group Limited in Birmingham received a C1 for their first grading following inspection.

Karbon Homes in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, South Holland District Council in Lincolnshire and Tuntum Housing Association Limited in Nottingham all received consumer upgrades to C1.

For-profit ReSi Homes Group received its first gradings of C2*, G2* and V1* following inspection.

The year’s first stability checks were also published today, including for Notting Hill Genesis. The RSH said it was continuing to engage “intensively” with the landlord, which currently has C3, G3 and V2 grades. 

“RSH is considering alternative resolution options should they be needed and could take regulatory action if required,” it said.