Four social landlords have failed to meet the Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) new consumer standards, in the first set of judgements since the new era of regulation began in April.

Bristol City Council, Guildford Borough Council, Octavia Housing and Sheffield City Council have each been given a C3 rating, which means there are serious failings, and need to make significant improvements. This is the first time the RSH has published consumer gradings for social landlords.

Following investigations into each landlord, the RSH found that:

• Bristol City Council could not evidence that it is meeting carbon monoxide safety requirements for over 22,000 homes (out of 26,700 total homes). It also reported 1,900 open damp and mould cases, more than 16,000 overdue repairs and 3,000 overdue fire safety actions. In addition, the council does not have up-to-date data about the condition of tenants’ homes
• Guildford Borough Council has around 1,700 homes without an up-to-date electrical condition report (out of 5,200 total homes), and it could not provide evidence that it has completed around 1,300 fire safety actions. In addition, it has not collected Tenant Satisfaction Measures from tenants, which all social landlords are required to do.
• Octavia Housing currently has 1,200 overdue fire safety remedial actions across its 5,000 homes. It was unable to provide evidence that it is meeting other health and safety requirements and it does not hold complete and accurate records for safety inspections.
• Sheffield City Council had around 10,000 outstanding repairs across its 38,500 homes and, between January and April 2024, more than 90% of disrepair cases were outstanding for extended periods. RSH also found evidence that the council does not have an accurate record of the condition of tenants’ homes.

Meanwhile, in the same batch of judgements, Cambridge City Council failed to meet the regulator’s Rent Standard after overcharging 3,600 tenants.

The RSH says all the landlords are working to address the identified issues and put things right for their tenants.

Kate Dodsworth, the RSH’s Chief of Regulatory Engagement, said: “Landlords must provide safe and decent homes for tenants, have an effective complaints process, and put things right when there are problems. The judgements we published today show that each of these landlords have issues which they need to address promptly.

“All landlords need to make sure they deliver the outcomes in our standards and inform us when there are material issues. Our new approach to regulation, which started in April, gives us new tools to scrutinise landlords’ performance and, where there are issues, drive them to deliver long-term improvements for the benefit of tenants.”