Bristol City Council seriously failing tenants, authority told
The Regulator of Social Housing says Bristol City Council is massively behind on repairs and can't prove it has the right safety features in the majority of properties
Bristol City Council's been told its seriously failing its social housing tenants by not doing repairs or keeping proper records.
A report out today (9th July) from the Regulator of Social Housing points out several alarming statistics, including that for more than 50 percent of its domestic properties like council homes and flats, the authority cannot prove it has an up to date electrical safety certificate, or how significant the risk is to tenants caused by the work required.
Additionally the council cannot prove it has the necessary smoke and carbon monoxide alarms for a staggering 85 percent of homes and more than 16,000 repairs logged with the authority, are outstanding.
The council however disputes that final figure, saying the real amount is more like 11,000 because several issues have been logged by tenants more than once.
Regardless, the Regulator concludes that there are "serious failings" in how the council is meeting consumer standards and "significant improvement" is needed.
Councillor Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, said: “We apologise to all council tenants and those who live in our council owned homes.
"All residents should expect us, as a landlord, to deliver a high standard of housing and comply with national requirements, and we share these expectations."
Councillor Dyer added he recognises that the news will cause some concern for residents.
In a briefing with the media this morning a council spokesperson admitted they cannot "look tenants in the eye" and honestly say everything is fine, adding it is going to take years to solve the problems and there is no clear figure on how much all the work will cost.
"We do not wish for anyone to worry but recognise that better communication and further information is needed to ensure all residents are clear on what this judgement means and how we intend to fix the issues we face," Councillor Dyer said.
“Both our own internal assessment and that of the Regulator sets out clearly where the gaps in our arrangements exist and provide a blueprint for improvement.
"We accept the findings of the Regulator’s review and have committed to fix the issues we face in the shortest possible time."
Part of a wider issue?
Whilst not trying to use it as an excuse, a spokesperson for the council told Greatest Hits Radio that their failings are part of a much wider national issue, stemming most centrally perhaps, from a lack of funding from central government.
Guildford Borough Council, Octavia Housing, Sheffield City Council and Cambridge City Council have all received similar judgements from the Regulator today, while Bristol City Council claims others are likely to receive similar judgements in the near future.
"This offers us the opportunity to learn from others and take on board the approaches they have developed to deliver decent, safe homes to a high level of regulatory compliance," Councillor Dyer said.
"It also indicates that across the country, a far higher awareness of the need for consistent and dependable housing safety is underway, and we agree that this is long overdue."
Going forward
Councillor Barry Parsons, Chair of the Homes and Housing Delivery Committee at Bristol City Council, said they have already begun work to raise standards.
"Our priority is focusing on any safety issues, which means addressing the backlog of some of the regular checks we must undertake as a landlord," he said.
"We are also undertaking a programme of repairs and refurbishment.
"Our record-keeping is significantly below where it should be and we are addressing this with urgency, to ensure that we are able to provide residents with relevant information about their homes."
All tenants across the more than 27,500 council properties have been written to by the council offering them an apology, while the council says it will provide them with regular communication in future.
Meanwhile council officers are working with the Regulator to create an improvement plan to address the failings.
"This improvement plan will prioritise works required to reduce backlogs of necessary repairs and surveys, prioritising those that ensure any safety issues are addressed first," a council statement reads.
If you would like to read the Regulator's judgement you can do so here.
Details of the judgements released regarding other councils today, are available here.