London Borough of Lambeth (00AY) – Regulatory Judgement: 27 November 2024
Published 27 November 2024
Applies to England
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Our Judgement
| Grade/Judgement | Change | Date of assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed. |
First grading | November 2024 |
Reason for publication
We are publishing a regulatory judgement for the London Borough of Lambeth (Lambeth Council) following an inspection completed in November 2024. This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.
Summary of the decision
From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, we have concluded that there are some weaknesses in Lambeth Council delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and our Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Lambeth Council.
How we reached our judgement
We carried out an inspection of Lambeth Council to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During the inspection we considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.
During the inspection we observed a housing scrutiny sub-committee, an area board meeting and the resident engagement strategic board. We met with tenants, officers and councillors including the leader of Lambeth Council and the deputy leader, who is also the portfolio holder for housing. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Lambeth Council.
Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of data received from Lambeth Council through regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.
Summary of findings
Consumer – C2 – November 2024
The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to complete all required health and safety checks. Lambeth Council provided evidence to show that overall, it is meeting legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Lambeth Council has appropriate systems in place to manage its health and safety responsibilities and performance is actively monitored by senior officers and councillors. Lambeth Council has a suite of strategic, preventative and reactive measures to tackle damp and mould in its homes and is managing the risks associated with this work.
The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to have an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes at an individual property level based on a physical assessment of all homes and ensure that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard (DHS). Lambeth Council provided evidence that stock condition survey information has been used to inform and deliver planned maintenance in its homes. Although Lambeth Council has a number of homes that are failing to meet the DHS, it has been reducing the number of non-decent homes through planned investment and we will continue to engage with Lambeth Council to monitor its progress on this.
Our inspection and engagement with Lambeth Council and its tenants demonstrated that action is needed to ensure that Lambeth Council is delivering an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas it is responsible for. There are relatively low levels of satisfaction with repairs and Lambeth Council recognises that it needs to improve this area of service. We saw evidence of Lambeth Council taking steps to address this weakness, including working with contractors to drive improvements. We also saw evidence of the plans Lambeth Council has in place to improve tenant satisfaction in this area. We will continue to engage with Lambeth Council in relation to its repairs service and will continue to seek assurance that it will embed change and deliver improved outcomes for tenants.
The Neighbourhood and Community Standard states that landlords must work in partnership with appropriate local authority departments, the police and other relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We saw evidence that Lambeth Council deals effectively with anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in line with its policy and procedures, with clear monitoring and oversight of cases. We saw examples of Lambeth Council working with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhoods where it provides homes.
In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Lambeth Council has an allocations policy that offers tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of its accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of its homes. Lambeth Council operates a choice based letting system and during the inspection we obtained assurance that Lambeth Council supports residents to sustain their tenancies.
The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard includes the requirement for landlords to provide information so that tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord, and hold their landlord to account. It also requires landlords to ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly. We saw evidence that Lambeth Council provides mechanisms for tenants to engage with it and scrutinise its performance. Evidence was also provided to demonstrate how tenant feedback is used in service planning. Lambeth Council provides a range of relevant and accessible information to tenants, including about its performance. During our inspection, we were made aware of concerns by some tenants about their engagement with Lambeth Council through a Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) that is in place. Lambeth Council provided evidence that it was engaging with the TMO about these issues, however Lambeth Council needs to continue to work with the TMO to ensure that tenants’ voices are heard. We will seek assurance on this matter through our ongoing engagement with Lambeth Council.
Lambeth Council’s approach to complaints handling is clear and in line with the requirements of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, but there are weaknesses in Lambeth Council’s performance in addressing complaints in a fair, effective, and prompt manner. We have seen some improvement in Lambeth Council’s performance in this area following the Housing Ombudsman’s review in 2022, but further improvement is needed. Lambeth Council has provided assurance that it understands the issues that it is experiencing and has an improvement strategy that has started to deliver improvements in performance. We will continue to monitor this through our ongoing engagement with Lambeth Council.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
Lambeth Council manages 23,628 social rented homes, along with 9,290 leasehold homes. Lambeth Council supports 10 TMOs, with one more in development, collectively managing 3,391 homes. The TMOs are responsible for repairs, maintenance, rent collection, financial management, and tenancy management, while Lambeth Council retains responsibility for major works and structural repairs. Lambeth Council also has an estate redeveloped under a Private Finance Initiative contract.
Our role and regulatory approach
We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.
We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).
We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord’s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants’ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.
We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.
We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords’ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes.
The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.
For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards.