“Serious failings” have been identified in council homes across Wandsworth by the Government’s official watchdog. The Regulator of Social Housing raised concerns in a report this week about the borough council’s failure to carry out 1,800 overdue fire safety remedial actions. It also found that the authority “does not have up to date information on the condition of most of its homes”.
The Labour-run council said it was already taking “swift and decisive” action to address the report’s concerns. The news on Wednesday that Wandsworth had been given a ‘C3’ grade - the second-lowest on a scale of four - came on the same day that Westminster Council received a ‘C1’ rating, making it the first London borough to achieve the highest grade.
The regulator said in its Wandsworth report: “In respect of fire safety, we identified that there were almost 1,800 overdue fire safety remedial actions. Although none of the actions were categorised as high risk by Wandsworth, (two thirds were categorised as being of no severity or best practice), they were all more than 12 months overdue. Wandsworth has a plan for completing all actions.”.
The report also noted that “in respect of electrical safety, at the time of the inspection almost 80 per cent of communal areas and around 40 per cent of homes had not had an electrical safety test.”. However, it added that “since the inspection, the number of outstanding communal and domestic tests has reduced, 75 per cent of communal areas and 70 per cent of homes now have tests, and Wandsworth has a plan to complete the remaining tests”.
Concerns are separately raised in the report about the council’s lack of knowledge regarding the state of its properties. The regulator said: “Through our inspection we saw evidence that Wandsworth does not have up to date information on the condition of most of its homes.
“Wandsworth surveyed a sample of its homes in 2022-23 with just under 6.5 per cent of its homes and 275 blocks being surveyed. Its previous survey had been in 2012, which surveyed a similar proportion of homes. “Given the limited survey data Wandsworth currently holds, we do not have assurance that Wandsworth has a sufficient understanding of the condition of its homes to deliver the relevant outcomes in the Safety and Quality Standard.”.
Wandsworth told the regulator that, as far as it was aware, only five per cent of its properties do not meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard - which sets out how all social homes must be kept in “a reasonable state of repair”, have “reasonably modern facilities and services” and provide “a reasonable degree of thermal comfort”.
However, the regulator pointed out that this figure is based on the limited information Wandsworth has about the condition of its homes, leaving open the possibility that a larger percentage of the borough’s properties may fail to meet the standard.
The council also admitted to the regulator that tenants “are not always satisfied” with its repairs service, but said it had “plans to explore this with tenants to identify the causes and improvements required”. In addition, the report identifies “weaknesses in how Wandsworth takes tenants’ views into account in its decision making and communicates how tenants’ views have been considered”.
In more positive observations, the regulator said it had seen “evidence that Wandsworth deals effectively with anti-social behaviour and hate incidents” at its properties, and “is working co-operatively with tenants and other landlords to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of shared spaces and increase wellbeing in communities”.
Aydin Dikerdem, Wandsworth’s cabinet member for housing, said in response to the report: “Delivering the highest quality service to our council tenants remains an absolute priority for this council. “Since we took control of the council over two years ago, we have invested significant new resources into our housing management teams and reforming our tenant participation structures.
