Regulatory Notice: Accord Housing Association Limited (6 October 2021)
Updated 29 November 2023
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greensquareaccord-limited/regulatory-notice-accord-housing-association-limited-6-october-2021
RSH Regulatory Notice
- Provider: Accord Housing Association Limited (referred to as GreenSquareAccord)
- Regulatory code: LH3902
- Publication date: 6 October 2021
- Governance grade: G1
- Viability grade: V2
- Reason for publication: Consumer Standards
- Regulatory route: Reactive Engagement
Other providers included in the judgement
- Westlea Housing Association Limited LH4083
Regulatory Finding
The regulator has concluded that:
a) GreenSquareAccord has breached part 1.2 of the Home Standard; and
b) As a consequence of this breach, there was the potential for serious detriment to GreenSquareAccord’s tenants.
The regulator will work with GreenSquareAccord as it seeks to remedy this breach. The regulator will also consider the implications for our view of GreenSquareAccord’s governance grading.
The Case
In April 2021, GreenSquare Group Limited and GreenSquare Community Housing transferred engagements to Accord Housing Association Limited. The merged body uses the trading name GreenSquareAccord.
As a registered provider, GreenSquareAccord is required to comply with the consumer standards, including the Home Standard. The Home Standard requires registered providers to have a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service and to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of tenants in their homes.
Our assessment of the information received through a self-referral from GreenSquareAccord is that it has failed to meet statutory health and safety requirements in relation to fire, electrical and asbestos safety. The evidence available to the regulator shows that the failures arose in the former Accord Housing Association stock. GreenSquareAccord is now responsible for addressing the issues set out in this notice.
In respect of fire safety, GreenSquareAccord has a statutory duty [footnote 1] to regularly assess the risk of fire and to take precautions to prevent the risk of fire. The regulator has learned that hundreds of properties do not have a current fire risk assessment (FRA), with a smaller number having never been assessed. GreenSquareAccord noted that some of these had become overdue because of Covid restrictions.
GreenSquareAccord is required to ensure that electrical installations are in working and safe condition both at the start of any tenancy and throughout that tenancy. [footnote 2] GreenSquareAccord has reported to us that more than 10,000 of its properties have never had an electrical inspection. This includes thousands of individual homes and hundreds of housing blocks. For asbestos safety, [footnote 3] the evidence provided to the regulator by GreenSquareAccord showed that no asbestos surveys had been carried out in Accord’s communal areas. For these reasons, the regulator has concluded that GreenSquareAccord has breached the Home Standard, and as consequence, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants.
Since identifying these issues, GreenSquareAccord has undertaken a data cleanse and integration exercise to fully understand its compliance position. It has also implemented a recovery programme to prioritise the work needed to become compliant with its statutory health and safety obligations.
The Regulator’s Findings
The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of part 1.2 of the Home Standard and has concluded that GreenSquareAccord did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities across a range of areas.
Complying with statutory health and safety requirements is a fundamental responsibility of all registered providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants. GreenSquareAccord has demonstrated to the regulator the progress it is making to ensure the required statutory checks and relevant safety actions are completed, and that appropriate mitigations are in place in the meantime. However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues, the durations for which tenants were exposed to risk, and the number of tenants affected, the regulator has concluded that GreenSquareAccord has breached the Home Standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period.
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).
GreenSquareAccord has put in place a programme to rectify these failures and the regulator will therefore not take enforcement action at this stage, as it has assurance that the breach of the standard is being remedied. The regulator will work with GreenSquareAccord as it continues to address the issues which have led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme. In the meantime, the regulator is considering the implications of this breach on our view of GreenSquareAccord’s governance grading.
About the provider
Accord Housing Association Limited (referred to as GreenSquareAccord) (LH3902)
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.’
Key to Grades
Governance:
- G1 (Compliant): The provider meets our governance requirements
- G2 (Compliant): The provider meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance
- G3 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and in agreement with us the provider is working to improve its position.
- G4 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and the provider is subject to regulatory intervention or enforcement action.
Viability:
- V1 (Compliant): The provider meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.
- V2 (Compliant): The provider meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.
- V3 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our viability requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and, in agreement with us, the provider is working to improve its position.
- V4 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our viability requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and the provider is subject to regulatory intervention or enforcement action.