Portsmouth City Council fails RSH’s consumer standards
Source: gov.uk (2025-01-29)

Portsmouth City Council issued with a C3 grading by the Regulator of Social Housing

The Regulator of Social Housing has issued a C3 grading to Portsmouth City Council, after an investigation found they had failed to meet the outcomes of the consumer standards, in particular those relating to the Safety and Quality Standard.

RSH’s responsive engagement with Portsmouth CC began in August 2024, after information in the council’s Fire Safety Remediation Survey return indicated potentially material issues.

Although RSH’s initial engagement focused on fire safety, Portsmouth CC was then asked to provide further information on wider aspects of landlord health and safety and, following a self-assessment, the council made a self-referral to RSH in September 2024.

An investigation into the landlord found:

Over 1,000 outstanding fire remedial actions.

Over 85% of its homes have not had an electrical condition test for over five years, a number of which are located in high-risk communal blocks.

Less than 40% of its homes had been surveyed within the last five years, more than a third had been surveyed more than ten years ago, and nearly 10% had no record at all. Additionally, stock condition surveys undertaken prior to 2024 did not include an assessment of hazards

A lack of clarity for tenants as to what they can expect in terms of the repairs service.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:

“The health and safety of tenants is non-negotiable.

“Providing safe, decent homes for tenants starts with accurate, up-to-date data. Without this, it is impossible to deliver the right services to residents.

“Portsmouth City Council has engaged constructively with us and we welcome their transparency in making a self-referral. This is the first step towards addressing the serious failings identified and making significant improvements.”

RSH also published regulatory judgements from proactive inspections for two landlords.

Aspire Housing received a C1 for its first consumer grading, as well as being upgraded to a G1 governance grading and retaining its V2 viability grading.

Sanctuary Housing Association received a C2 grading, and retained its G1 and V2 gradings.

RSH published a further 12 regulatory judgements through its stability check programme, with Incommunities Limited and Magenta Living both regraded from V1 to V2. The remaining 10 landlords retained their viability and governance ratings.

Stability checks are a yearly exercise where we look at the financial information landlords have submitted to us (including their most recent business plan and annual accounts) and consider whether their current viability grade is consistent with this

Notes to Editors

On 1 April 2024 RSH introduced new consumer standards (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/regulatory-standards-for-landlords) for social housing landlords, designed to drive long-term improvements in the sector. It also began a programme of inspections for all large social landlords (those with over 1,000 homes) over a four-year cycle. The changes are a result of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and include stronger powers to hold landlords to account. More information about RSH’s approach is available in its document Reshaping Consumer Regulation (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reshaping-consumer-regulation-our-new-approach).

RSH carries out stability checks on all housing associations, and other private registered providers, who own 1,000 homes or more. The stability checks are a yearly exercise. We look at the financial information landlords have submitted to us (including their most recent business plan and annual accounts) and consider if there are any risks which might result in a change to their financial viability or governance gradings. The checks do not include local authorities because our governance and financial viability standard does not apply to them.

More information about RSH’s responsive engagement (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/responsive-engagement-with-landlords), programmed inspections (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/our-approach-to-inspections) and consumer gradings (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-we-approach-regulatory-judgements-and-gradings#governance-viability-and-consumer-grades) is also available on its website.

RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes. It does this by setting standards and carrying out robust regulation focusing on driving improvement in social landlords, including local authorities, and ensuring that housing associations are well-governed, financially viable and offer value for money. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.

For general enquiries email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx). For media enquiries please see our Media Enquiries (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/regulator-of-social-housing/about/media-enquiries) page.