'Very serious failings' verdict after hundreds of unfit homes found in Runnymede Borough Council housing

Regulators for social housing investigated the borough this year and said they were unconvinced the council had appropriate oversight and scrutiny of its repairs. damp and mould, or disrepair claims.

They said it failed as both a landlord and in how it set out rent standards – and must carry out fundamental changes to improve the lives of its tenants specifically over the safety and quality of its homes.

It added that they had limited assurance the council was treating tenants fairly and with respect.

The council, which owns around 2,830 social housing homes, said the report mirrored its own improvement plan as it sets about addressing historic issues with its housing stock and that, since 2021, it has spent £24m to carry out 7,827 upgrades on top of standard repairs and health and safety checks.

As part of its next budget £10.2m is earmarked for investment in the council’s housing stock.

Regulators found that although the council indicated a willingness to address its very serious failings, and was taking action in some areas, they had not seen evidence it fully understood the potential risks to tenants.

Its report read: “Based on our assessment of the seriousness of the failures, the risks tenants are exposed to as a result of these failings, and the fundamental changes needed to improve outcomes for tenants, we have concluded a C4 grade for Runnymede.”

C4 is the lowest possible score that can be awarded and means fundamental changes must be made.

“Our judgement is based on the scale of the issues identified during the inspection and the significant impact or potential impact on Runnymede Borough Council’s tenants.

“Landlords must ensure tenants’ homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard.”

Since 2021, the council has surveyed only 58 per cent of its homes, but only 30 per cent have had full stock condition checks.

Regulators found inadequate monitoring and reporting, with almost 250 previously unknown hazards identified as a direct result of their inspection.

They also found no assurance that remedial actions were being fully reported for every area of health and safety, including more than 300 overdue fire remedial actions.

Its handling of resident issues was also flagged, despite the council having three tenants’ groups, with regulators unable to find any evidence of meaningful engagement and that the council’s approach to ensuring complaints were addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly was severely lacking.

Runnymede, they said, was consistently failing to meet target response times for complaints.

Councillor Mike Smith, chairs the council’s housing committee.

He said: “The regulator’s report mirrors much of our own existing improvement plan, which identified what needs to be done to address historic issues with Runnymede’s social housing stock.

“Since 2021, we have supported a multi-year capital works programme, and that work continues, and tenants can be reassured of our commitment to improving our housing stock and tenant experience.

“We are committed to achieving the new Customer Standard. One example of how we will do this is the whole stock survey, which is due to be completed by the end of March this year. We have also already agreed to take on more staff to support our team.

“A significant part of the judgement relates to rent, which was a historic item where we self-referred to the Regulator ahead of any knowledge of an impending inspection. Having commissioned third party assurance, we identified those impacted by the issue and financially made good on that original error.

“We are committed to achieving full compliance with the Decent Homes Standard in this coming financial year, and we are ahead of target in delivering that ambition.

“We will be contacting all of our tenants to advise them of the Report’s findings.”