67,000-home landlord also given a low ‘C3’ consumer grade along with three councils

Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has been downgraded to a ‘G3’ governance grade after a regulatory inspection found serious concerns with its business planning and risk and control frameworks that have led to ‘poor outcomes’ for tenants.

Notting Hill Genesis

The move by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) means the 67,000-home landlord is no longer compliant with the governance and financial viability standard and must work with RSH to improve its position. The group was also awarded a low ‘C3’ score for consumer regulation meaning there are serious failings requiring significant improvement.

Today’s judgement said NHG’s risk management, internal controls and assurance framework “is not robust enough to enable the board to identify and manage risks.”

RSH found limited evidence of NHG’s board providing effective oversight of landlord health and safety compliance. It said “the current level of oversight is limited and requires improvement to be effective”.

It said the delegation of health and safety risks between three different committees is “not effectively managed”, resulting in the board not having comprehensive assurance on the health and safety of tenants in their homes.

It said: “In particular there is evidence that findings from internal audits and reporting of the compliance position for third party managed buildings have not previously had oversight from the board.”

It said NHG also needs to do further work to “review the mix of skills on the board to align to strategic priorities.”

The landlord has a governance review planned for later this year and RSH said it will work with it to ensure this includes a review of the board’s skills and its effectiveness.

The RSH inspection of NHG also found failures against the new consumer standards including:

  • a substantial backlog of overdue fire remediation actions
  • a lack of data on whether legal requirements had been met in a large number of third party managed buildings
  • a repairs backlog and a lack of accurate data with only around half of homes having had a survey in the last five years.

RSH said NHG is taking steps to improve its approach but described the scale of improvement needed as “significant”

Responding to the judgement today, NHG issued a lengthy statement outlining the work it is doing to improve a range of areas, including board skills, risk management framework and board oversight of health and safety. It is also working to improve its legal compliance of external managing agents, fire remediation actions, repairs and maintenance, understanding the condition of its homes and listening to residents.

Patrick Franco, chief executive of NHG, said: “I am pleased the regulator has noted our proactivity and co-operation throughout the inspection process, and we will work at pace with them now, as well as with residents, colleagues and other key stakeholders, to deliver our plan.

“Today’s regulatory judgement is very disappointing for Notting Hill Genesis, but it confirms the need for us to redouble efforts in our ongoing drive to become a more resident-focused organisation.”

NHG last summer announced a strategy called Better Together to improve homes and services. It is investing £770m over the next 10 years as it seeks to “prioritise existing homes over development.

>>See also: Notting Hill Genesis accounts delayed as it reviews one-off costs

>>See also: Notting Hill Genesis appoints executives to three new roles

Franco said: “Unfortunately, we have not made progress quickly enough to have avoided these non-compliant consumer and governance ratings in this rightly more stringent regulatory environment.”

RSH also issued ‘C3’ consumer gradings to three local authorities today; Southwark Council, Southampton Council and West Northamptonshire Council.

An RSH inspection found Southwark Council failed to self-refer despite more than half of homes having no smoke alarms. More than half had also not had electrical condition test for over five years. It was also found to have almost 2,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions, while its last stock condition survey was undertaken in 2010.

Kieron Williams, leader of Southwark Council, said: “I want to apologise to tenants who have been let down. We will continue to drive up the quality of our services and homes for you. While we have made progress, we know there is much more to do.

“We will be making sure our action plan delivers the improvements that the regulator has identified. We’re investing over £250 million over the next three years to make our homes safe and decent.”

Southampton City Council was found to have 47% of its homes not meeting the Decent Homes Standard. RSH also found the Hampshire local authority had poor routine repairs performance, weaknesses around asbestos safety, little evidence of tenant views being take into account and issues with complaints handling.

Jamie Brenchley, director of housing at Southampton City Council, said: “We fully acknowledge and accept the regulator’s findings and are committed to improving the service that we provide to tenants.

“We are making improvements as quickly as we can and welcome the opportunity to work closely with the regulator, and most importantly our tenants, as we deliver our improvement plan.

West Northamptonshire Council self-referred itself to RSH in September after identifying an issue with data quality and health and safety compliance. RSH subsequently found a lack of assurance over safety checks for fire, electrical, water, asbestos, lifts and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. It also found “limited” evidence that remedial actions were being completed within appropriate timescales.

Adam Brown, leader of West Northamptonshire Council said the authority is “sorry” standards have fallen short of what tenants should expect.

He said: “Since identifying these failings and submitting a self-referral, we have taken immediate action, prioritising safety concerns and working closely with [housing manager] Northampton Partnership Homes to ensure robust processes are in place.

“We have also strengthened oversight by appointing additional directors and housing experts to the board to guide and support the recovery process.”

In total, 35 regulatory judgements were issued by RSH, see the full list below.

Latest Regulatory Judgements

ProviderConsumerChangeGovernanceChangeViabilityChange
Chesterfield Borough Council C2 First grading        
East Midlands Housing Group C2 First grading G1 Assessed & unchanged V2 Assessed & unchanged
Livin Housing C2 First grading G1 Assessed & unchanged V2 Assessed & unchanged
Lambeth Council C2 First grading        
Medway Council C2 First grading        
Notting Hill Genesis C3 First grading G3 Downgrade V2 Assessed & unchanged
Southampton City Council C3 First grading        
Southwark Council C3 First grading        
Stevenage Borough Council C2 First grading        
West Northamptonshire Council C3 First grading        
Abri Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Arches Housing     G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Aster Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Bernicia Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Castles & Coasts Housing Association   G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Chelmer Housing Partnership     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Croydon Churches Housing Association   G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Curo Group (Albion)     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Eden Housing Association     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
English Rural Housing Association   G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Grand Union Housing Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Viability downgrade V1 to V2
Housing Solutions     G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Irwell Valley Housing Association   G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Local Space     G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Manningham Housing Association   G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Ocean Housing Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Onward Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Orbit Group     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Orwell Housing Association     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
South Lakes Housing     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Thrive Homes     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Wakefield And District Housing   G1 Assessed and unchanged V1 Assessed and unchanged
Wrekin Housing Group (The)     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Yorkshire Housing     G1 Assessed and unchanged V2 Assessed and unchanged
Your Housing Group     G1 Upgrade V2 Assessed and unchanged

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