Councils are failing in more ways than one. When it comes to complaints from their tenants, repairs and maintaining safety standards, councils are not performing while private landlord tenants report high levels of satisfaction.
From an over-represented volume of social housing complaints, to scandals with London councils, tenants in the Capital are being failed miserably. The irony is these are the very councils that are tasked with holding private landlords to account for their rental conditions.
Lambeth Council is on the rack for overcharging and “gagging” its leaseholders over their extortionate service charges, while likewise Southwark Council is in the spotlight in the press for failing to do legally required electrical checks.
The Housing Ombudsman recently released its Insight Report that investigated social housing complaints in Greater London. It documents that 47% of the cases determined by the Ombudsman in 2023-24 were from residents living in a London postcode.
This rate of London complaints represents a disproportionate amount for the capital given that just under one in six homes in the Ombudsman’s remit is located within Greater London. There was no other region of England with such a wide gap between the proportion of its social housing and the number of complaints.
These findings contrast starkly with the results of the government’s tenant survey in the Private Rental Sector (PRS) which studied how satisfied they were with their accommodation.
The 2022/2023 English Housing Survey showed that most people privately renting property from landlords were satisfied with the state of their home. It showed that reliable and attentive landlords meant that 82% of responders answered positively, saying they were happy with the service got from their landlords.
The statistic also runs in stark contrast to the negative story constantly promoted by the housing charities and other pro-tenant organisations that private tenants live in purgatory, and constantly in fear of eviction from their tyrannical landlords.
With an acute housing crisis in the capital, and a mayor who claims to target housing as a priority, most indicators reveal poorer outcomes in London for social housing residents than any other region in the country.
Ombudsman’s data shows a severe maladministration rate at 9.3% compared with 7.4% for the rest of the country, and an overall maladministration rate of 77% compared to 68.5% for England.
The Ombudsman’s report also highlights the “uphold rate” (the rate at which decisions made by the housing authority are upheld upon review or appeal) on property condition, including repairs and health and safety, is also the highest in the country. This is despite more homes said to be meeting the Decent Homes Standard in the capital.
The report highlights the “challenging operating environment for social landlords”, including working with third parties such as managing agents and the “historic underinvestment in homes”, as well as the need for improvements by landlords in communication, record keeping and supervision of repair services.
The Ombudsman provides lessons to be learned as well as and case studies on a range of issues on quality of homes and the quality of customer service provided to tenants, including:
“Insight and intelligence from complaints should be used strategically. This ranges from effective root cause analysis of casework through to identifying risks and horizon scanning.”
It is recommended that other landlords outside of London should also “take note of these recommendations and learning points, especially in other urban areas, as they provide vital indicators of where things go wrong and how to stop that from happening.”
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said:
“Although the issues complained about are broadly the same as the rest of the country, the operating environment for landlords in the capital is vastly different from most other areas. This can present unique and acute challenges.
“The housing crisis is intense in London – with under resourcing and pressures that are outside of landlords’ control. These challenges and the impact it has on individuals is clear and evident in our casework.
“However, landlords must ensure they are equipped to respond to these operational complexities and neither allow them to obscure poor performance nor be overwhelmed by them. There are far too many cases of residents being treated unfairly or unreasonably.
“Our casework reveals how poor communication and record management can compound existing challenges. It also indicates some poor resource planning, risk assessment and service oversight.
“This report contains both good practice and maladministration cases and landlords should take into account all of that learning when reading through this report. We appreciate the support and engagement that London landlords and other groups have provided in the lead up and following publication of this report.”
Lambeth Council has been exposed for forcing individual leaseholders – those who have complained about excessive service charges - to keep quiet as a condition of them receiving refunds. This was for building work and other services they had been overcharged for - in some cases these amounts ran into tens of thousands of pounds.
The BBC asked Lambeth Council how many leaseholders had been asked to sign confidentiality clauses or non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) over the last five years. The Council admitted that 136 residents had entered into confidentiality agreements.
Lambeth, a Labour-run council, paid out nearly £1.6m in refunds to leaseholders which averages out at £11,500 per lessee. Some of the leaseholders told the BBC that they were offered refunds with conditions. This was for shoddy building and repair work carried out to their residential blocks or individual homes. Apparently, some of the work they had been charged for had never been done.
In return for receiving a refund, those that took it up with the council had to enter into a legally binding agreement to keep “schtum” so that other residents were kept in the dark.
Lambeth Council manages around 9,400 leaseholders, is the freeholder of many blocks of flats and it also owns other council homes.
Service charges are used for major works needed to keep properties in good repair, and when a major repair is required, such as external painting or a new roof, the cost of the maintenance and repairs are split between the leaseholders and the council. Leaseholders are then asked to pay their share as a condition of their lease.
In a statement issued by the Council it justified the use of these clauses, saying that “Confidentiality is one of the cornerstone principles of mediation,” and that settlements were used to “resolve disputes and avoid the stress, time, costs, and incurrence of court resources” .
How has Southwark Housing been allowed to not carry out electrical safety tests for over 36,000 homes since 2018?
Social housing provider, Southwark, has neglected to carry out proactive electrical safety tests in 36,000 of its homes since at least 2018, when private landlords are subject to heavy fines when they fail to do the same thing.
In 2020, electrical safety standards were introduced that require private landlords to have electrical installations in homes inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every five years. Landlords must provide a copy of the EICR to their tenants upon request.
The government has also been considering similar mandatory requirements for the social housing sector, proposing mandatory checks on electrical installations every five years and a legal obligation to obtain an EICR.
These proposals were part of a 2022 consultation and were included in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. However, regular electrical safety checks are not yet mandated for social housing, leaving the issue for the next government to address.
In any case landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rental property is safe, and that any electrical equipment provided is safe before a tenancy begins. That means:
In England and Wales, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is the main legislation which covers landlords’ responsibilities in providing and maintaining its properties at Sections 8 and 11.
Part P of the Building Regulations requires that all electrical installation work undertaken in a home apart from some minor types of work should either be notified to a building control body or be carried out by a competent person, registered for Part P.
In Scotland, landlords’ duties are now set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, section 14 (Landlord’s duty to repair and maintain). Starting from 1 December 2015 Scottish landlords are required to ensure that regular electrical safety inspections are carried out by a competent person.
The failure of councils to carry out electrical inspections is potentially putting thousands of residents’ lives at potential risk. The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has been notified and asked to investigate this serious oversight in housing management.
Southwark is said to have come to light as part of an ongoing review of services, which has led to the commencement of a comprehensive programme to complete the outstanding Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR).
Despite the absence of a legal mandate, the code of practice for managing electrotechnical care recommends that electrical installations in domestic tenanted properties be inspected and tested every five years, resulting in an EICR. This standard aims to ensure tenant safety and mitigate potential risks.
Southwark has breached the standard for failing to complete electrical safety reports for 3,500 homes. Similarly, in previous years other London housing providers were found to have breached the standard after an investigation revealed that over 10,000 domestic properties lacked current electrical condition reports.
All this implies systemic failures with these council’s safety and compliance management systems. The reactive approach adopted by these councils, only addressing electrical safety during major works or repairs, is insufficient.
Southwark Council issued a statement on electrical testing of council homes, 18 June 2024:
“As part of a commitment to improve council homes in the borough, Southwark Council has today, 18 June, made a self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in relation to electrical testing.
Raising standards across its thirty-six thousand council homes is a top priority for Southwark, and as part of an ongoing, full review of its housing service the council has identified that a new regulatory requirement to undertake an electrical safety test of each home has not been implemented in the way it should have been. This has led to the Council making a voluntary self-referral to the RSH, the independent organisation responsible for regulating a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector.
“The Council has now begun a major programme to carry out the required outstanding tests, which are known as Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR). They will be writing to all council tenants to explain what happens next and when to expect their property to be tested. While this work is underway, tenants should continue to take the usual care when using electrical appliances and devices in their homes.
“Council tenants who have questions about electrical safety can call a dedicated electrical safety number (020 7525 5999) or email (electrical.testing@southwark.gov.uk) to seek advice, and where necessary, book an appointment.
Councils cannot with all conscience regulate the private rented sector and hold private landlords to account for housing safety when it cannot meet the regulations for its own properties.
These cases highlight the urgent need for councils to up their game when it comes to property management and meeting the needs of their tenants. In the main, responsible private landlords have shown that they can outperform their council and sometimes housing association providers when it comes to meeting safety standards and customer service levels.
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