Agenda item

This report seeks to update Committee on actions to ensure regulatory compliance of the Council’s social housing landlord function following the non-compliance notice issued by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The Director for Housing and Property presented the report and highlighted key points on the latest information of the Council’s compliance:

·       The Council had a positive working relationship with the regulator.

·       The fifth update report had been provided to Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

·       A positive ‘direction of travel’ from the Council had been demonstrated.

·       The all-Member briefing on compliance was to be rescheduled, due to the by-election.

·       The full tenant consultation (“The Big Listen”) had begun at the beginning of the calendar year and was still undergoing at the time of this meeting.

·       The Stock Condition Survey was still being ‘rolled out’ across the District.

·       Regulator meetings were taking place monthly.

·       The results to landlord health and safety compliance were the purpose of the regulator becoming involved. 

·       Strong performance in relation to asbestos, fire risk assessments, water hygiene, lift inspections, improvements on electrical testing and ongoing works on gas safety.

·       Strategic compliance meetings with the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holder and Chief Executive had been taking place to provide high levels of supervision of action plans.

ACTION: The Director of Housing to send a link to members on the questions being asked to residents by the regulator.

Further information was sought on the achievements, installation and costings of Propeller. 

The Director of Housing confirmed that Propeller was software and used to collate compliance and health and safety data on a dashboard. The software could be used to run reports, global figures, certificates and queries around individual properties. The Council would be obliged to pay a license fee of £30,000 per year for the software. It was highlighted that registered social landlords (housing associations) used this software as a ‘market leader’.

ACTION: For the Director of Housing to provide Committee Members with screenshots of the Propeller dashboard information.

A query was raised on the current installation of the software, whether it was fully or partly installed at the present time. A further query was raised on the timeframe of completion on installation of the software.

It was confirmed that the software was currently still being rolled out, with other aspects being added to the action of managing compliance requirements e.g. lifts, fire assets, asbestos module. The Director of Housing assured the Committee that good progress was being made, however, caution was being taken before communicating with the regulator. The Council aimed to be satisfied with demonstrating compliance across the board. It was reported that by the end of March 2022, a robust set of performance figures should be available to benchmark against the sector.

One Member raised a concern on the impact of staffing pressures within the Housing team and whether new staff were being recruited.

The Director for Housing reported that interim appointments had been made to cover key roles on the technical services sector of Housing. It was emphasised that figures report in the following months would be positive.

The Chairman queried the problem encountered with inspections of properties. 

It was reported that access issues are still occurring due to nervousness around Covid-19 from residents to a blank refusal and failure to understand the rights of access of the Council. It was reported that the Council had access issues on 9 properties at Riverside and team had been continuing to work hard to secure access.

A query was raised on the timing a property would be left before gaining access and if a warrant would be appropriate.

The Director of Housing confirmed that the option for a warrant could be given in relation to gas certificates. The process is started 2 months prior to the expiration of certificates to provide notice for the resident. The next point of action would be appointments and engagements with the Housing Officer and then a warrant application may be submitted to court. A possession proceeding could also be carried out because of breach of tenancy.

It was reported that the tenants panel consisted of 5 tenants, which was a small percentage out of 6000 tenants. The Director of Housing encouraged tenants to engage and portray their views to the Council.

The Director of Housing reassured the Committee that comments made by tenants on social media are taken seriously as a form of feedback. The tenant experience was critical to shape the Council’s services in the future.

The Chairman queried the timescale that a void property is left empty.

The Assistant Director of Housing emphasised that none of the Council’s properties had been vacant for over a year. It was highlighted that several properties in one location had been vacant since July 2021 due to structural issues and engagement with contractors.

It was reported that at the beginning of November 2021, there were around 113 void properties and at present at this meeting, there were around 44 void properties. 24 properties were due to be handed back to the Council before the 7 March 2022. At the time of the meeting, the Council had received the keys back within the notice period from 4 properties, these would be used to utilize the housing stock more efficiently.

A concern was raised on the difficulties tenants experience on communicating with the housing team via telephone.

A suggestion was raised on the importance that housing cases are not shared between Officers to ensure no duplication or communications are lost. 

AGREED:

To note the latest compliance position following the ongoing meetings with the Regulator of Social Housing.

To receive a further update report at the next scheduled Committee meeting.