Regulation

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has issued a C4 consumer grading to Gosport Borough Council after an inspection uncovered ‘very serious’ failings.

Kate Dodsworth, the regulator’s chief of regulatory engagement at RSH said “the breadth and scale of the failings we identified at Gosport Borough Council are unacceptable”. RSH will now be engaging intensively with the council to put things right “as soon as possible for tenants”.

During the inspection of the council, RSH found:

  • Over 900 overdue fire safety remedial actions, with some that have been overdue since 2012
  • Over 300 overdue electrical safety checks and over 100 category 2 electrical safety remedial actions, some of which have been outstanding for up to 7 years
  • A lack of accurate and up to date information on tenants’ homes, with a 20% sample of stock condition surveys last carried out in 2012. A third of its properties have no survey on record
  • It has not used the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to assess potential hazards in tenants’ homes
  • No planned improvement programme in place since 2023
  • Serious failings in the council’s understanding of the diverse needs of its tenants
  • A lack of assurance on the handling of complaints by its repairs contractor
  • Serious failings in how it works to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents.

While Gosport BC has demonstrated a willingness to resolve these issues, RSH found limited evidence that it fully understands the scale and breadth of the issues due to poor monitoring, and limited evidence that it has the capability to effectively address them.

A spokesperson for Gosport Council, said: “Gosport Borough Council takes the regulator’s judgement extremely seriously. Our tenants deserve safe, well-maintained homes and high-quality services, and we are fully committed to taking necessary action. We continue to work constructively with the Regulator of Social Housing and improvements to the housing service are already being delivered, with 85% of tenants who took a council survey reporting that they are satisfied with the overall service provided.”

In more positive news, regulatory notices were removed for the Eldonian Community Based Housing Association , Haringey Council and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, after RSH concluded that all three landlords had addressed the issues previously identified.

In a statement, welcoming the news, Cllr Sarah Williams, Haringey Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning said: “When we took our housing service back in-house in 2022, we were determined to transform it for the benefit of our residents.

“Thanks to an almost £5m cash injection, a detailed plan of action and the commitment of our housing team and our Housing Improvement Board in delivering it – we are turning things round and giving our residents the high level of assurance they deserve.

“While the regulator’s announcement is very welcome, we won’t be complacent. We will maintain a laser-like focus on continued improvement so we can build on this important milestone.

“We are grateful to our colleagues and external stakeholders, including the regulator with whom we’ve maintained regular dialogue, for the guidance and challenge they’ve given to drive us forward.

“We’d also like to thank our residents for lending us their voice through our new resident engagement structure – something I’m especially proud of. We will continue to be open, to listen and learn.”

Meanwhile, housing association Great Places has had its consumer grading upgraded to C1, after it addressed weaknesses in its oversight of health and safety risks and improved its understanding of the condition of its homes.

Great Places also made changes to the way tenants can engage with the repairs service, having identified that this was a significant cause of complaints.

RSH also published annual stability check outcomes for 52 landlords.

Aster Group Limited, Castles & Coasts Housing Association Limited, Industrial Dwellings Society (1885) Limited and Soha Housing Limited were regraded from V1 to V2, while Prima Housing Group Limited was regraded from V2 to V1.

The rest retained their current governance and viability gradings.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:  “The breadth and scale of the failings we identified at Gosport Borough Council are unacceptable and we will be engaging intensively with them as things are put right as soon as possible for tenants.

“Our inspection programme continues to root out issues and drive landlords to improve homes and services for tenants.”

Links to all the regulatory judgements published today are in the table below:

Landlord Consumer Governance Viability Engagement Process
Acis Group Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Aster Group Limited – G1 V2 (regrade from V1) Stability Check
Believe Housing Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Beyond Housing Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Bolton at Home Limited C2 (based on previous assessment) G2 V2 Stability Check
bpha Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Castles & Coasts Housing Association Limited – G1 V2 (regrade from V1) Stability Check
Cornerstone Housing Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Croydon Churches Housing Association Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Durham Aged Mineworkers’ Homes Association – G1 V1 Stability Check
Eden Housing Association Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
First Choice Homes Oldham Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
First Garden Cities Homes Limited C2 (based on previous assessment) G2 V2 Stability Check
ForHousing Limited – G2 V2 Stability Check
Futures Housing Group Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Gateway Housing Association Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Gentoo Group Limited C1 (based on previous assessment) G1 V2 Stability Check
Gosport Borough Council C4 (first grading) – – Inspection
Great Places Housing Group Limited C1 (upgrade) G1 V2 Stability Check and Responsive Engagement
Greatwell Homes Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Halton Housing – G1 V1 Stability Check
Home Group Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Housing 21 C2 (based on previous assessment) G1 V1 Stability Check
Hundred Houses Society Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Industrial Dwellings Society (1885) Limited  (The) C2 G2 V2 (regrade from V1) Stability Check
Irwell Valley Housing Association Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Jigsaw Homes Group Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust C2 (based on previous assessment) G1 V2 Stability Check
Leeds Federated Housing Association Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
LiveWest Homes Limited C1 (based on previous assessment) G1 V1 Stability Check
Magenta Living – G1 V2 Stability Check
Manningham Housing Association Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Midland Heart Limited C1 (based on previous assessment) G1 V1 Stability Check
Muir Group Housing Association Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
North Star Housing Group – G1 V1 Stability Check
NSAH (Alliance Homes) Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Ongo Homes Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Onward Group Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Orbit Group Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Prima Housing Group Limited – G1 V1 (regrade from V2) Stability Check
Regenda Limited – G2 V2 Stability Check
Richmond Housing Partnership Limited – G2 V1 Stability Check
Riverside Group Limited  (The) – G1 V2 Stability Check
Salix Homes Limited C1 (based on previous assessment) G1 V2 Stability Check
Saxon Weald C2 (based on previous assessment) G2 V2 Stability Check
Soha Housing Limited – G1 V2 (regrade from V1) Stability Check
South Lakes Housing – G1 V2 Stability Check
Sparrow Shared Ownership Limited C1*(first grading) G1*(first grading) V1* (first grading) Inspection
Thrive Homes Limited – G1 V2 Stability Check
Vivid Housing Limited – G1 V1 Stability Check
Watmos Community Homes C1 (based on previous assessment) G1 V2 Stability Check
West Kent Housing Association – G1 V2 Stability Check
YMCA St Paul’s Group – G1 V2 Stability Check