Regulatory Notice: London Borough of Greenwich (31 August 2022)
Published 31 August 2022
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2022
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RSH Regulatory Notice
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Provider: London Borough of Greenwich (referred to as Royal Borough of Greenwich)
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Registration number: 00AL
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Publication date: 31 August 2022
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Reason for publication: Consumer Standards
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Regulatory route: Reactive Engagement
Other providers included in the judgement
None
Regulatory Finding
The regulator has concluded that:
a) Royal Borough of Greenwich (RB Greenwich) 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 RB Greenwich’s tenants.
The regulator will work with RB Greenwich as it seeks to remedy this breach.
The issue
RB Greenwich made a self-referral to the regulator in May 2022 as it had identified a potential failure to meet statutory health and safety requirements in some of its homes. RB Greenwich told us it had not completed electrical safety checks for every property which needed one, and that remedial actions from fire risk assessments were overdue. RB Greenwich also told us that it did not have current water safety risk assessments for all communal residential blocks and that there had not been a programme for reviewing asbestos surveys.
Our investigation
As a registered provider, RB Greenwich 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.
In respect of fire safety, RB Greenwich has a statutory duty[footnote 1] to regularly assess the risk of fire and to take precautions to prevent the risk of fire. Our investigation found that there were more than 400 outstanding fire risk assessments, and there were hundreds of high-risk remedial actions from the assessments which were also outstanding.
With regards to electrical safety, RB Greenwich 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] The Council has reported to us that more than 1,000 communal and in excess of 10,000 domestic properties do not have a current electrical condition report.
For asbestos safety,[footnote 3] the evidence provided to the regulator showed that RB Greenwich did not have valid communal asbestos surveys for hundreds of blocks and there were just over 300 overdue high risk remedial actions which had not been complete since July 2019.
With regards to water safety,[footnote 4] we found that RB Greenwich did not have current risk assessments for more than 80 residential communal blocks.
The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of part 1.2 of the Home Standard and has concluded that RB Greenwich did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities across a range of areas, and to demonstrate that it was compliant across these 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. RB Greenwich has demonstrated to the regulator that it understands the work it needs to undertake to ensure the required statutory checks and relevant safety actions are completed. However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues, the duration for which tenants were exposed to risk, and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that RB Greenwich has breached the Home Standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period.
Our engagement
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).
RB Greenwich has started to put in place a programme to rectify these failures and has assured the regulator that it is taking action to remedy the breach of standard. The regulator will therefore not take statutory action at this stage. The regulator will work with RB Greenwich as it continues to address the issues which have led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.
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.