Regulatory Notice: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (27 April 2023)
Published 27 April 2023
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2023
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RSH Regulatory Notice
- Provider: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
- Registration number: 00CR
- Publication date: 27 April 2023
- Reason for publication: Consumer Standards
- Regulatory route: Reactive Engagement
Other providers included in the judgement
None
Regulatory Findings
The regulator has concluded that:
a) Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (Dudley MBC) has breached the Home Standard; and
b) As a consequence of this breach, there was the potential for serious detriment to Dudley MBC’s tenants.
The regulator will work with Dudley MBC as it seeks to remedy this breach and will continue to consider what further action may need to be taken.
The issue
Dudley MBC made a self-referral to the regulator in March 2023 as it had identified a failure to meet statutory health and safety requirements in some of its homes. Dudley MBC told us it had not completed gas, fire, electrical and asbestos safety checks for every property that needed one, and a high number of fire remedial actions in the communal areas of its blocks were overdue. Dudley MBC also told us that it could not confirm if all its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Our investigation
As a registered provider, Dudley MBC is required to comply with the consumer standards, including the Home Standard. The Home Standard requires registered providers to ensure tenants’ homes meet the criteria set out in government’s Decent Homes Standard. [footnote 1] The Home Standard also requires registered providers to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of tenants in their homes.
In relation to the quality of its homes, Dudley MBC told us it could not evidence what proportion of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard as it does not hold full or accurate data in this area. Dudley MBC confirmed that a 100% stock condition survey programme has commenced and is planned for completion within 12 months.
In respect of gas safety,[footnote 2] Dudley MBC has a statutory duty to complete gas safety inspections annually for all relevant properties, with inspections carried out by a registered engineer. Dudley MBC reported that gas safety inspections were overdue for over 300 properties.
In respect of fire safety,[footnote 3] Dudley MBC has a statutory duty to regularly assess the risk of fire and to take precautions to prevent the risk of fire. Dudley MBC reported there were around 500 outstanding fire risk assessments and that it was working to complete these by August 2023. It also reported more than 8,000 overdue fire remedial actions.
With regard to electrical safety,[footnote 4] Dudley MBC is required to ensure that electrical installations are in a working and safe condition both at the start of any tenancy and throughout that tenancy. Dudley MBC reported that more than 800 properties on its communal electrical testing programme were without a valid Electrical Installation Condition Report, and that more than 300 properties had outstanding remedial works. Dudley MBC also reported around 4,000 domestic properties had not had an electrical inspection within the last 10 years.
For asbestos safety,[footnote 5] Dudley MBC is required to carry out annual inspections where asbestos is found to be present. Dudley MBC reported around 500 communal asbestos inspections were overdue.
The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of parts 1.1 and 1.2 of the Home Standard and has concluded that Dudley MBC does not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its responsibilities in relation to the quality of its homes, and in relation to statutory health and safety compliance across a range of areas.
Providing good quality homes and complying with statutory health and safety requirements are fundamental responsibilities of all registered providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants. Dudley MBC has demonstrated to the regulator that it now understands its responsibilities and is completing the work it needs to undertake in relation to both its compliance with the Decent Homes Standard, and to ensure the required statutory health and safety checks are completed. However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that Dudley MBC has breached the Home Standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period.
Our engagement
Dudley MBC has started to put in place a programme to rectify these failures. The regulator will work with Dudley MBC as it continues to address the issues that led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its health and safety and decency programmes. We will continue to keep our use of statutory powers under regular review through our engagement with Dudley MBC.
Section 198A of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (as amended) states that the regulator’s regulatory and enforcement powers may be used if a registered provider has failed to meet a consumer standard. In order to use regulatory or enforcement powers, as well as the failure to meet the standard, there should also be reasonable grounds to suspect that the failure has resulted in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants) or that there is a significant risk that, if no action is taken by the regulator, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants).
About our Regulatory Notices
Regulatory notices are issued in response to an event of regulatory importance (for example, a finding of a breach of the Rent Standard or of a consumer standard that has or may cause serious harm) that, in accordance with its obligation to be transparent, the regulator wishes to make public. More detail about Regulatory notices is set out in Regulating the Standards.