By Alistair McIntosh, HQN CEO

What difference will Andy Burnham make when he gets to Number 10 – both of them! We know that he sets high standards via the Greater Manchester Landlord Charter. But could we be going back to the days of the coming down like a ton of bricks approach of yesteryear?

That was the line taken by the old Tenant Services Authority. For better or worse, the coalition ditched that. In Daniel Hewitt’s new book, he says: “Andy Burnham argues that the state should have the right to bring badly performing housing associations back into state control.”

What happens next? Fortunately, in the opinion of the RSH, the landlords that have their inspection reports out this week should have little to fear. Here are our summaries.

We look at Aster first. Well done on the C1, it’s great to see. The report is a hymn of praise. It has all the usual ingredients of a C1 but let’s pick a few out.

Aster has a firm grasp on what needs doing to its homes thanks to physical surveys that drive investment plans. As you would expect for a C1, the association is on top of health and safety.

Aster knows a lot about its tenants and uses the information to tailor services accordingly. They’re working well to sustain tenancies via tenancy checks, proactive arrears management and access to financial support.

What strikes me about the Aster report is the impact of the tenant voice. The RSH tells us that feedback has helped to improve the approach to ASB and repairs.

Disappointingly, the RSH don’t go into any detail here. So, if you want to learn from Aster you’ll have to travel deep into the heart of Devizes. As it’s the home of Wadworth Brewery, that may be no bad thing. Make it a 6 X mate, as they say there!

Aster is big on shared ownership. As is its custom, the RSH don’t cover this at all.

Turning to the C2s, this rating means that the landlord has “some weaknesses” on meeting the standards. C3 landlords have “serious failings” and C4s display “very serious failings”. The RSH wants all landlords to get to C1. If you fall below this line, they will engage with you till you get there.

First up is Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA). The chief executive says that she is “…pleased to…receive a compliant C2 for our first consumer standard judgment”.

The timing of this judgment is interesting. In January a young man fell to his death from a balcony at an ISHA block. The inquest by the coroner is due to take place on 21 of July. I expected the RSH to wait for the ruling before giving a C rating.

The RSH says that “ISHA provided evidence that it has appropriate systems in place to identify and meet legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas”. ISHA also had a good understanding of stock condition while the repairs service is improving.

Weaknesses that contributed to the C2 included:

• Need to gather more data on tenants so as to tailor services
• Need to get better at dealing with complaints (low satisfaction and high proportion of stage two complaints).

Two councils got C2 – Charnwood BC and Dover DC.

The C ratings may become of great significance to councils. Burnham has talked about councils taking back poorly performing associations. Of course, the logistics would be tricky to say the least. Would a stock-owning council have to be at C1 itself to benefit? It’s one more reason for crossing the line to C1 for every landlord. Thankfully, the RSH judgements for C2s set out exactly how to do that.

Key points from Charnwood…

The RSH finds that Charnwood knows what it has to do to kick on from C2 and is making progress. Tenants are engaged and influencing the service via the Housing Management Advisory Board and panels. But the council needs to get better at tailoring services around residents.

Here are some of the other highlights:

• Stock survey on 87% within last five years with firm plans to complete – making “sustained attempts to access remaining homes”
• 3.85% non-decency with plans in place to rectify
• Meeting legal requirements on health and safety
• “Tenants are treated respectfully and their views are valued.”

The response from the council is spot on. Councillor Jennifer Tillotson, Lead Member for Housing, said:  “We have worked hard to improve our services, and the grading has recognised many strengths including in how we have a positive culture of fairness and respect towards tenants and how we have improved our repairs service.

“Clearly, there are also areas which we need to improve on, and there are plans in place to take us forward.”

Key points from Dover…

As per Charnwood, the RSH accepts that Dover is on the right track. Some weaknesses are holding it back from C1 for now. But there are plans to fix these.

Here are some of the highlights:

• “Dover meets the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard”
• Up-to-date stock survey – targeting activity to increase access
• 96.5% of homes meet Decent Homes Standard
• Taking “reasonable and proactive” steps to comply with health and safety requirements
• 97% of routine repairs and 100% of emergency repairs attended to on time
• Weaknesses on recording and monitoring of ASB and hate incidents
• “Respectful and positive culture towards tenants”
• Needs to get better at tailoring services
• New tenant engagement strategy in train – RSH wants this “embedded”
• Weaknesses in learning from complaints.

Last point – landlords are working hard to improve access and the RSH is acknowledging this. This is in line with the ‘no access’ report from HQN commissioned by the LGA, CIH, NFA, ARCH and CWAG.