Issues with record-keeping, safety compliance and use of IT systems identified in analysis of registered providers’ performance against new regulations
Housemark has highlighted areas requiring improvement in its analysis of the first consumer standards inspections of registered providers.
The benchmarking firm has reviewed the first 23 consumer standards inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing and augmented trends with its own unique data.
There have been 15 compliant C1 and C2 grades, with eight non-compliant C3 grades where improvement is needed.
Housemark has said there are “significant challenges” that social housing providers are facing when it comes to meeting the outcomes of the new consumer standards, which came into effect in April.
The challenges include gaps in compliance with health and safety issues, record-keeping on complaints and the condition of homes and tenant engagement.
Housemark’s report, ‘Raising the bar’, said landlords reporting less than 100% compliance with health and safety requirements “will stick out”, with outlying results most likely to attract attention from the regulator.
Housemark data showed that more than half of landlords recorded full compliance for four out of the five building safety tenant satisfaction measures in 2023/24.
On gas safety compliance, only 39.4% of social landlords reported 100% compliance.
John Wickenden, research manager at Housemark, said that this is a continued effect of the pandemic, when gas safety data “fell off a cliff” as registered weighed up whether to go into homes or social distance.
Jonathan Cox, Housemark’s chief data officer, added that labour availability and steep inflation on the cost of materials are also a challenge.
In the report, Housemark said accurate record-keeping and monitoring systems are “essential” to showing landlords are aware of any shortcomings and are taking action before regulatory inspections.
>>See also: Evolution or revolution? What new consumer standards mean for RPs
On average, landlords took 35 days to resolve damp and mould issues last year. Furthermore, one in five cases re-occurred within a year, which Wickenden attributed to the complexity of the problem.
The report stated that landlords are millions of missing data points in relation to the Decent Homes Standard. The regulator now requires registered providers to have accurate stock condition information on every home based on a physical assessment.
Housemark has warned that the number of decent homes may nosedive with the introduction of stricter standards under Decent Homes Standard 2, potentially leading to an additional 600,000 properties failing to comply in the first year.
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