Surrey council kicks off major shakeup of housing service pending bad news from inspectors

Inspectors from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) visited Tandridge District Council’s service in July, with their official findings due out this week.

But senior officers say they are are not waiting around – already launching a Housing Improvement Plan to deal with problems flagged during the visit.

“There were some things that came as an absolute surprise to me,” said Cllr Jeremy Pursehouse, lead for housing.

He reassured a Housing Committee meeting on September 11 that some of the issues came from the housing team’s failure to document or finds the information, rather than the information not being there.

Tandridge council manages a stock of around 2,580 homes.

Over £400,000 has been set aside for the first wave of changes, including hiring extra housing staff, launching a full stock condition survey and upgrading the council’s clunky IT systems.

The investment is sourced from the housing funds rather than the general reserves.

Recruitment is also said to be underway for new housing officers, surveyors and compliance staff.

Immediate actions listed in council documents include:

• A deep dive into housing safety compliance
• Commissioning a full housing stock condition survey by autumn with urgent safety issues flagged
• A major upgrade of the IT systems to improve data quality, repairs tracking and tenant engagement
• Revised complaints procedures, ensuring senior sign-offs in all cases.
• Expanded training for housing staff covering tenant engagement, risk awareness and handling damp and mould cases.

The RSH inspection is part of a new national regime which gives regulators greater powers to intervene in failing housing services.

The inspection looks at whether homes are safe and well-maintained, if residents can raise concerns and influence decisions, do providers deal with issues like anti-social behaviour and whether the tenancy management fair and supportive.