The Regulator of Social Housing has issued a notice for Birmingham City Council, finding that there are “serious problems” with the authority’s social housing stock.
The regulator concluded that Birmingham City Council has breached the consumer standards following an investigation that found around 23,000 social homes owned by the city do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
The regulator also found a range of serious health and safety issues across thousands of homes, including almost 17,000 overdue asbestos surveys, around 15,500 late electrical safety inspections, and more than 1,000 fire-risk assessments that were overdue, mainly for low-rise housing blocks.
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These failures meant thousands of council tenants were at potential risk of serious harm, the regulator concluded.
The regulator has also identified “significant failures” in the way the council handles tenant complaints, with more than 1,000 overdue responses.
The regulator’s investigation follows earlier external reviews, which found that the council’s engagement with tenants was ineffective, and that it did not understand or value tenants’ needs.
The regulator said it expects the council to take “urgent action” to address these failings and return to compliance with its standards.
‘Failed thousands’
Kate Dodsworth, director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator of Social Housing, said: “Birmingham City Council has failed thousands of tenants and it needs to act now to put things right.
“It is unacceptable that so many of its tenants are living in non-decent homes, and that thousands of health and safety surveys haven’t been completed.
“The council also needs to improve the way it handles its tenants’ complaints.
“We will continue to monitor the council’s progress while it fixes the problems we found through our investigation.”
At the start of this year, the Housing Ombudsman issued a special report on Birmingham City Council after 24 maladministration findings.
Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said the council’s approach to complaint-handling in particular was “fundamentally flawed”.
Birmingham City Council has been approached for comment.
Image: Birmingham City Council. Credit: Caron Badkin/Shutterstock
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