Housing Quality Magazine July 2022

Gove warns building owners against ‘committing a criminal offence’ as Building Safety Act comes into force

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has written to residential managing agents and landlords ahead of the Building Safety Act coming into force tomorrow, warning them that “anyone who chooses to breach the statutory protections will be committing a criminal offence.” He … Read more

Firefighters tackle tower block fire less than a mile from Grenfell Tower

Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters tackled a flat fire on Queensdale Crescent in Shepherd’s Bush, a tower block just a mile away from Grenfell Tower. The flat on the 12th floor was badly damaged by fire. London Ambulance … Read more

Gove writes to second housing provider over maladministration findings

Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, has written to Housing Plus Group after a maladministration finding due to bedbugs and infestation. The letter follows a similar one he wrote to Clarion Housing Group after its “repeated failures”. In the letter, Gove said: … Read more

Housing Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for complaint involving bedbug infestation 

The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for Stafford and Rural Homes (now Housing Plus Group) when dealing with a resident’s complaint about delayed repairs and a bedbug infestation. There were unacceptable delays in the landlord’s response to the complaint at … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry (6-9 June 2022)

By Danielle Aumord. Expert witnesses analyse Grenfell Tower’s smoke control system Grenfell Tower had a new smoke control system fitted in 2016 – designed by company PSB UK – due to the old one being broken “beyond repair”. But this … Read more

Sector bodies join together to tackle ‘poor quality housing’

The National Housing Federation (NHF) and Chartered Institute for Housing (CIH) will set up an independent panel to make “urgent recommendations for tackling poor quality housing in the sector”. The organisations say it is in response to the investigation from … Read more

Social Housing Regulation Bill formally introduced to parliament

The Government will introduce the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill into parliament today, following on from its inclusion in the Queen’s Speech. Failing social housing landlords could “face unlimited fines and Ofsted-style inspections” under the new plans, and the Regulator of Social Housing will … Read more

Government sets out ‘improvements’ to fire safety guidance and building regulations

New improvements to fire safety guidance and building regulations have been introduced as part of a “wider package of reforms.” All new residential buildings over 11m will now have to include a Secure Information Box that will give fire and rescue … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry 16-26 May 2022

By Danielle Aumord. The governmental department supposed to provide a liaison between central and local government during an emergency failed to realise that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) was struggling to cope with the immediate aftermath of … Read more

Housing Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for Hackney’s damp and mould delays

The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for the London borough of Hackney’s substantial delays in dealing with damp, mould and leaks at a resident’s home. The delays contributed to further deterioration of the issues and had health and safety implications … Read more

Government releases Fire Reform White Paper

The government has unveiled how it plans to respond to the Grenfell Tower inquiry recommendations, with a new Fire Reform White Paper. The changes announced include the commencement of the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations … Read more

Housing’s Next Generation 2022: Top 20 announced

Back for its third year, our Housing’s Next Generation competition attracted entries from all over the sector, from housing associations and local authorities to supply chain partners and housing co-operatives. The judges looked at several criteria when shortlisting, including showing … Read more

Severe maladministration for housing association’s complaint handling failings

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration for a housing association’s failings in dealing with a complaint from a resident with vulnerabilities. Clarion’s responses didn’t sufficiently acknowledge all the issues raised by the resident in her complaint or the reasons for delays … Read more

Housing figure Steve Douglas CBE has passed away

St Mungo’s has announced the sudden death of its CEO, Steve Douglas CBE. The organisation made the announcement with “deep shock and sadness” after he passed away suddenly at his home on Sunday morning, 8 May. The 57 year old leaves … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell public inquiry 11 – 28 April 2022

By Danielle Aumord. Survivors and the bereaved chronicle the chaos they experienced in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire (11 – 28 April 2022) Grenfell fire survivors and bereaved family members shared their experiences of inadequate support in … Read more

MPs call for ‘more detail’ on how social housing impacted by building safety announcements

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee is calling for clarification from government on its recent building safety announcements. In a letter to Secretary of State, Michael Gove, the cross-party group of MPs asks: Will social housing providers be … Read more

Opinion: The end of the Building Safety Manager?

By Debbie Larner, HQN Associate. It is almost four years since Dame Judith Hackitt published her final report Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, where she concluded that the system failure that led to the tragedy at Grenfell in June … Read more

Gove hits out at manufacturers being ‘simply not good enough’ over building safety pledges

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has written to the Construction Products Association over its members failure to pledge to help fix the building safety crisis. He said that a lack of commitment, as shown by developers, “is simply not good enough” and that … Read more

Government has ‘agreed a solution’ with housebuilders over building safety remediation

Government has said that “over 35 of the UK’s biggest homebuilders have pledged to fix all buildings 11 metres+ that they have played a role in developing in the last 30 years”. It follows on from discussions between Housing Secretary … Read more

Private rented housing ‘failing far too often to provide safe and secure homes’, say MPs

A cross-party group of MPs have branded the private rented sector as “failing far too often” and call on government to make a series of changes. In a report, the Public Accounts Committee says it is “too difficult for renters … Read more

Issues with damp and mould among latest reports as Ombudsman’s online casebook reaches nearly 1,800 decisions

A year on since starting to publish all its decisions, the Housing Ombudsman’s online casebook now contains nearly 1,800 individual investigation reports. The decisions, published every two weeks, show the range of issues the Ombudsman can consider as well as the … Read more

Housing associations ‘will have to adapt’ to meet procurement challenges in 2022/23

Landlords can expect ongoing market instability and procurement challenges that may impact their ability to deliver on a backlog of investment plans, a new report has warned. Procure Plus has released a white paper setting out how the social housing … Read more

Government to ‘name and shame’ failing social landlords

The government has announced that will begin to “name and shame” failing social housing providers, as part of major reforms to give residents a stronger voice and drive up standards. The move means social landlords providing sub-standard housing and services … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell public inquiry 31 March – 7 April 2022

By Danielle Aumord A government official said that the country would have “starved to death” if the rules were written by someone who gave “absolute priority to life safety”. (21–29 March 2022). Brian Martin, former head of technical policy at … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell public inquiry 21 – 29 March 2022

By Danielle Aumord A government official said that the country would have “starved to death” if the rules were written by someone who gave “absolute priority to life safety”. (21–29 March 2022). Brian Martin, former head of technical policy at … Read more

LFB completes ‘vast majority of recommendations’ from Grenfell Inquiry, says mayor

The vast majority of recommendations directed at London Fire Brigade (LFB) following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry have now been completed, claims a new report from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The mayor and LFB accepted all of the inquiry … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell public inquiry 7 – 17 March 2022

By Danielle Aumord Government officials rejected calls to impose minimum standards of competency on fire risk assessors and guidance for disabled people was written minus their input (7–17 March 2022). Government-endorsed guidance that said it was “usually unrealistic” to provide … Read more

Updates from the Grenfell Tower public inquiry (7 – 17 March 2022)

By Danielle Aumord Government officials rejected calls to impose minimum standards of competency on fire risk assessors and guidance for disabled people was written minus their input (7–17 March 2022). Government-endorsed guidance that said it was “usually unrealistic” to provide … Read more

Opinion: What do we mean by professionalism?

HQN Associate Emma Lindley teases out some questions for government about its recent announcement of a review, in this article first published in the March 2022 issue of Housing Quality Magazine. The recent announcement by the Department for Housing (I can’t … Read more