The Regulator of Social Housing has handed Bury Metropolitan Borough Council a C3 consumer grade after finding serious failings in relation to health and safety, engagement with tenants and service and performance information.
During an inspection, the RSH found little evidence of meaningful opportunities for tenants to scrutinise their landlord’s performance or influence how its services are delivered.
The RSH also says that significant improvement is needed in the accessibility of information about landlord services and how services are performing. Bury MBC had also failed to meet the technical and survey requirements of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures.
Additionally, the Greater Manchester local authority was unable to provide sufficient assurance on the accuracy of its health and safety compliance information.
The report identified weaknesses in Bury’s repairs service, including meeting legal timescales for investigating, identifying and repairing hazards like damp and mould, its approach to anti-social behaviour and hate incidents, understanding and responding to tenants’ diverse needs and complaint handling. The RSH acknowledges that a range of improvements are in progress, but processes and systems were still being embedded and Bury MBC was unable to demonstrate that these improvements had consistently translated into better outcomes for tenants.
The RSH did, however, find evidence that Bury MBC was reducing its backlog of overdue repairs, taking action to improve the quality of its data and had further service improvements planned. The council has also worked constructively with the RSH, and the regulator will continue to engage with the council as it addresses these issues and delivers the improvements required.
RSH Deputy Chief Executive, Kate Dodsworth, said: “It’s really important that landlords give tenants meaningful opportunities to scrutinise their performance.”
“They should listen carefully to what tenants say and act on this to improve their services.”
“They also need to have accurate health and safety information to make sure tenants’ homes are safe and carry out repairs promptly when needed.”
The RSH also published stability checks for 19 landlords, including Peabody Trust, Sanctuary Housing Association, The Guinness Partnership, Southern Housing and Hyde Housing Association Limited.
Stability checks are the annual assessment of a landlord’s financial position, business plan and risk profile, used to determine whether its financial viability grading remains appropriate. The process no longer includes a review of governance gradings and is focused solely on financial viability.
Ms Dodsworth continued: “A strong financial footing underpins everything a landlord does. Stability checks are an important part of our ongoing oversight, helping to ensure landlords remain financially viable and able to deliver for current and future tenants.”
