Home Standard Breaches ' The Need For Periodic Safety Inspections In The Social Housing Sector

• Published date: 30 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Real Estate and Construction, Real Estate, Landlord & Tenant - Leases
• Law Firm: Weightmans
• Author: Sian Evans

It is important for social landlords to carry out periodic safety inspections to ensure the safety of their tenants.

The outcome of two recent investigations by the Regulator of Social Housing highlight the importance for social landlords to carry out periodic safety inspections to ensure the safety of their tenants.

As a result of concerns raised by a tenant of the London Borough of Harrow ("LBH"), a regulatory notice has been published against LBH following an investigation carried out by the Regulator of Social Housing. The Regulator found that LBH had breached its obligations under the Home Standard, potentially putting its tenants at serious risk.

It was found that 3,500 of the residential properties provided by LBH failed to have a current electrical condition report.

Evidence showed that LBH also failed to have valid water safety risk assessments in place for a number of its properties, posing a potential risk of Legionnaires' disease.

A further regulatory notice published by the Regulator on 27 April 2023 concluded that Dudley Council had also breached its obligations under the Home Standard by failing to carry out not only electrical safety inspections but also fire, gas and asbestos inspections on thousands of its residential properties.

In addition, the council also indicated that it could not confirm if all of their residential properties met the Decent Homes Standard.

Dudley Council had referred itself to the Regulator after identifying "long-standing issues with data quality and performance reporting, dating back up to 10 years".

The Regulator is now working with Dudley Council as it puts a remedial programme in place and will continue to monitor.

Social landlord safety obligations

The Regulator of Social Housing, under its Home Standard, expects providers of social housing to comply with all applicable statutory requirements to ensure the health and safety of tenants.

Current statutory requirements come in various forms, but particularly:

• Sections 10 and 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1983 which provide for installations to be kept in repair
• The Housing Health and Safety Rating System...