The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published a Regulatory Notice (RN) for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, which is in the West Midlands.
Dudley made a self-referral to the RSH as it had identified a failure to meet statutory health and safety requirements in some of its homes.
The RSH’s subsequent investigation found that:
- Dudley could not evidence what proportion of its homes met the Decent Homes Standard
- In respect of gas safety, Dudley reported that gas safety inspections were overdue for over 300 properties
- In terms of fire safety, the Council reported there were around 500 outstanding fire risk assessments and more than 8,000 overdue fire remedial actions
- With regard to electrical safety, Dudley reported that more than 800 properties on its communal electrical testing programme were without a valid Electrical Installation Condition Report, and that more than 300 properties had outstanding remedial works. The Council also reported around 4,000 domestic properties had not had an electrical inspection within the last 10 years and
- On asbestos safety, the Council reported that more than 500 asbestos inspections of communal areas were overdue.
The RSH found Dudley to be in breach of the Home Standard and that as a result there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants.
All of the Regulatory Judgements, RNs and Gradings Under Review listings published by the RSH can be viewed on the RSH’s website here.