Inspectors from the government’s social housing regulator have uncovered “serious failings” in how a council manages its homes.
A new report reveals Canterbury City Council (CCC) last carried out a stock condition survey of its 5,124 properties more than seven years ago.
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) revealed in a damning review Canterbury City Council (CCC) last carried out a stock condition survey of its 5,124 properties more than seven years ago
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has also highlighted weaknesses in how the authority handles complaints, manages adaptations for disabled tenants, and monitors hate-related anti-social behaviour.
But council bosses have blamed the issues on the “longstanding legacy” of problems left by East Kent Housing, the now-defunct organisation that previously managed its homes, and a policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher more than 40 years ago.
The RSH inspection, carried out this month, gave the council a C3 consumer grade, meaning it is not compliant with key housing standards and needs significant improvement.
This is the first time CCC has been given a consumer rating under the regulator’s new grading system, introduced this year to assess how well social landlords are meeting national standards.
Inspectors found major weaknesses in the council’s understanding of the condition and safety of its properties.
Canterbury City Council’s joint chief executive, Suzi Wakeham
The regulator said the authority “does not have accurate or up-to-date information on the condition of most of its homes”.
The last stock condition survey was carried out in 2017-18, and even that survey failed to include internal inspections of every property. Only 27.5% of homes have been checked under a new round of surveys now underway.
The RSH says the council “is unable to accurately report the number of homes that meet the Decent Homes Standard”, calling this “a serious failing”.
It also found “serious failings in maintaining performance and completing remedial works to the required levels consistently across all areas”, particularly in health and safety.
The official judgement stated: “Canterbury City Council has been engaging constructively with us and has put in place a programme to rectify these failures, including work to complete stock condition surveying to understand the condition of its homes, completion of outstanding health and safety checks and remedial actions and making improvements to its complaints handling processes.”
Canterbury City Council has taken aim at the scandal-hit East Kent Housing, which the local authority took over five years ago, and a key policy of Margaret Thatcher’s government
The regulator says it will continue to closely monitor progress but has stopped short of using enforcement powers for now.
In response, Canterbury City Council said it accepts the findings and is already acting to address the failings.
The authority’s joint chief executive, Suzi Wakeham, said: “Referring ourselves was the right and honest thing to do when we spotted weaknesses in our stock condition data, recognised our poor performance in dealing with tenant complaints and realised we needed better data about our tenants so we can ensure we engage with all of them effectively and ensure our services are easy to access.
“Officers are working hard every day to deliver our service improvement action plan and we will keep in close touch with the regulator on our progress.
“Councillors and officers really care about the homes we provide to the people that desperately need them and the regulator’s verdict has reinforced our determination to keep pushing for better in everything we do.”
The council said its improvement plan involves putting more staff on the ground to speed up stock condition surveys, increasing resources for tackling damp and mould, accelerating the re-letting of empty homes, and collecting better data on tenants to ensure services are fair and accessible.
It has also set up an all-party Cabinet Advisory Committee to oversee the plan and report back to councillors, which will include two council tenants.
Right to Buy was a key policy of Margaret Thatcher’s government
The council’s director of people Marie Royle said: “We are straining every sinew to overcome a longstanding legacy from the failures of East Kent Housing when it was responsible for our council homes plus high demand for social housing, ageing homes, the financial pressures on councils who manage their own social housing and the effect of the Right to Buy which meant we lost some of our best council homes and could not replace them.”
East Kent Housing was at the centre of a scandal in 2019, when it was discovered its management of properties was riddled with systemic failings. Thousands of safety rulings had been flouted, and the chief executives of Canterbury, Folkestone and Hythe, Dover and Thanet councils admitted in 2020 that they “had no choice” but to axe the board and bring the day-to-day running of their properties in-house.
The Right to Buy scheme, launched in 1980, let council tenants purchase their homes at big discounts. It became one of Margaret Thatcher’s defining policies, pushing her dream of a “property-owning democracy” and cutting the state’s role in housing.
Ms Royle added: “Councillors and officers are passionate about the service the council provides and they are the ones who spotted the issues we are now tackling.
“Everywhere we look, we can see the hard work is paying off and there are signs of real and tangible progress. For example, our independent internal auditors say health and safety compliance is improving every day.”
Since April last year, the RSH has published inspection results for 58 councils under its new consumer regime.
Of these, 32 were graded C3, the same as Canterbury. The rating means a landlord is not compliant and has weaknesses or serious failings in one or more areas.
The council says it is determined to turn things around.
A spokesperson added: “There is a lot of work to do but we’re rolling up our sleeves and getting on with it.”
While the regulator’s findings make grim reading for tenants, Canterbury City Council insists it is being open and transparent about the problems.
It points to improvements already made in repairs, anti-social behaviour work and tenant engagement, which the regulator also acknowledged.
The RSH says it will continue to monitor the council intensively to ensure those promises are delivered.