Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits an update on how the Council manages the condition of its homes,  as a social landlord, with a focus on compliance with the new Social Housing Regulation Act 2024. The report is for information.

The Head of Service presented a report on the condition and management of the Council’s housing stock. It was noted that: 

• All homes were visited on a regular basis and the stock was currently 99.5% compliant with the Decent Homes Standard.  

• A rolling 5-year Home Health Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspection plan had commenced and all homes had been visited in the previous 5 years by an officer who was able to identify any risks and arrange for them to be remedied. 

• 2 separate IT systems had been simultaneously managed to keep track of the stock condition.  

• The new Assets module was key to demonstrating strong compliance, along with the resources required by technical services that managed this. 

• The report highlighted the key spending areas that were over £40 million, all of which were agreed as part of the HRA budget. There were other smaller-scale items at a property level, and information was held on elements such as expected replacement timeframes. 

• When elements were due for replacement, an inspection took place to ensure work was prioritised appropriately. The largest area for refurbishments was the kitchen and bathrooms. The intention had been to replace all kitchen and bathrooms but due to increasing costs and budget pressures, this was reconsidered to ensure that all kitchens and bathrooms met the decent homes criteria and were replaced as soon as possible.  

• The elements that were changed on a periodic basis were listed in the report.  

• Stock condition was assessed in many ways, including: 

o   When properties were void, their condition was assessed to ensure they met the decent homes standard and disruptive works were checked and carried out.  

o   Safety inspections such as gas safety inspections were carried out annually. The gas engineer also reported any other areas of concern after visiting the property.  

o   Tenants were able to contact the service if they wished to make alterations or improvements in a property and as part of this, an inspection occurred 

o   Inspections occurred during mutual exchanges. The exchange could not occur unless both properties met the decent homes standard.   

o   An established process was in place for damp and mould complaints which allowed a 4-week turnaround period for inspections. Priority repairs were required to be inspected and completed within 4 weeks.  

o   Responsive repairs were ongoing with around 80,000 occurring annually.   

o   There were 30 Neighbourhood Housing Officers who responded to tenancy management enquiries and were also able to refer any repairs through to Technical Services.  

o   The team worked closely with other services such as occupational health, environmental health and social workers so any concerns could be investigated.  

o   Referrals were received through customer service.  

o   Regular risk assessments were carried out of communal spaces containing asbestos.  

o   Periodic Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) were carried out.  

• The Compliance Team was now in place, and it was intended that low-risk blocks could now be checked as well as high-risk ones.  

• IT systems confirmed that all houses had been visited at least once in the last 5 years.  

• A new NEC module was being implemented, which would allow the council to interrogate the information on the housing stock better. This system would allow asset management and Health and Safety surveys to be conducted in real time using handheld devices, with data automatically updated in the IT system. The module was expected to be operational by September 2025, with some recruitment needed to support the new model. 

In response to comments from Members, it was noted that: 

• Gas safety checks were carried out by staff while EICR was carried out by contractors and in-house staff.  

• Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) but they were completed in line with the identified risk frequency for that block, every 12 months in high-risk blocks and sheltered accommodation. In purpose-built accommodation, they were carried out every 5 years. A Fire Risk Assessor was directly employed in the division, but the vast majority of FRA were completed by contractors.  

• Many priority works were completed within the 10-day target. However, work occurred outside of this timescale if it was inconvenient or disruptive for the tenant. The difficulty of access to the property was an issue in causing backlogs.  

• A report was scheduled on Repairs and Maintenance for the next Housing scrutiny meeting. This was intended to include damp and mould updates, which were on a significant downward trajectory.  

• Concerns were raised that the capital work programme was based on a 16-year-old survey. Members were reassured that before any capital work to properties is implemented, the Housing team would re-inspect and update the available information. £170 million had been spent on housing improvements in the last 10 years.  

• While the Health and Safety regulations required more frequent inspections moving forward, so far, no category 1 hazards had been identified as part of the initial HHSRS inspection completed. The ongoing stock check had ensured that the stock was in a good, compliant standard in line with officers understanding. However, the process adopted was being moved to a more regulated method.  

• The division was confident that the capital programme would be effectively delivered, particularly given the introduction of the new IT system. A 5-year investment strategy would also be developed using the intelligence from the HHSRS inspection to focus where investment capital was spent. 

• Members commented that increasing the number of property MOT’s was an investment that could save money in the long term. However, concerns were raised around the resources required to ensure that the inspections were carried out. In response, it was noted there was to be a new team manager, with 6 surveyors directly employed, this woul be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Colleagues in the private sector were going to support them with their training. Opportunities were intended to be offered for technical staff to develop, and the apprenticeship offer was still very strong across the trades and craft staff. This was to support the existing apprentice programme.  

• EPC’s lasted for 10 years, but there was no current requirement for them to be provided if it had lapsed. They were only provided in the event of a new letting / tenant. 

• The Local Authority had been fortunate in its stock; there were lots of traditional builds, and there were no remediation works because of building safety. Robust decisions had been made in terms of sustainable investments, and the division had been invested in the people and the stock. The management of the stock had put the team in a position to proactively identify potential issues that could be revealed by the surveys. 

• Communications were issued prior to an appointment, as well as there being an Access Policy so that tenants understood the purpose of the visit.  

• New recruits were to be resourced from the Revenue Budget.  

• Where there was similar house types with the same issues identified, it was logged on the dashboard so that trends were identified, and remedial works could be carried out.  

• A key cause of damp had been identified as ventilation, so this required communication with tenants.  

AGREED: 

The commission noted the report.