'Serious failings' in Nottingham council housing as 1,000 properties in disrepair

A rooftop view from Porchester Road near Mapperley of housing in Nottingham
-Credit:Joseph Raynor/Reach PLC


Nearly half of all Nottingham's council housing has not been checked for more than a decade despite the "serious failings" impacting tenants, according to the social housing watchdog. Nottingham City Council has been handed one of the worst ratings by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), but the Labour-run authority has admitted the verdict "does not come as a surprise".

The RSH found there were 1,000 cases of disrepair among the city council's housing stock and that it had a poor approach to monitoring its compliance with smoke and carbon monoxide detection rules. The city council says it takes the new report "extremely seriously" and is carrying out a survey on all 25,000 council-owned homes over the next 18 months.

Issues in Nottingham's council housing highlighted by Nottinghamshire Live in recent months have included hundreds of city families lingering on a waiting list to get damp and mould issues rectified. At the time of our report in November 2024, damp and mould cases took two and a half months to resolve on average.

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The RSH published its report on Wednesday, January 15, following an inspection carried out in October 2024. The government body monitors local council landlords in terms of their consumer standards and hands four possible grades out after inspections.

Nottingham City Council has been given a 'C3' grade, which means there are serious failings and that significant improvement is needed. The regulator says it is not yet using its enforcement powers against Nottingham City Council, with those powers including the ability to impose financial penalties and appoint advisers to oversee standards.

Yet concluding its report, the regulator says: "Our engagement will be intensive and we will seek evidence which gives us assurance that Nottingham City Council is making sufficient change and progress, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its improvement programme. Our priority will be that risks to tenants are adequately managed and mitigated.

"We are not proposing to use our enforcement powers at this stage but will keep this under review as Nottingham City Council seeks to resolve these issues." Nottingham's council housing had previously been the responsibility of Nottingham City Homes from 2005, with the company operating at arms length from the city council itself.

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Housing was then brought back under direct council management in April 2023 and the council says that since taking back responsibility, it has been aware of the need to "significantly improve" housing. The authority says it first contacted the regulator in January 2024 to share its improvement plans, which also include investing £20 million in council housing.

As well as the views of tenants not being properly considered, the regulator's primary concerns about Nottingham are related to condition surveys and repairs. The report says: "We have limited assurance that Nottingham City Council has an accurate, up-to-date, and evidenced understanding of its stock quality and decency as it has not surveyed almost 40 per cent of its homes for more than ten years.

"We also found limited oversight by Nottingham City Council of the quality of its homes. This is a serious failing for Nottingham City Council. Nottingham City Council is unable to accurately report average repair times due to system failures and is using a manual process to cleanse its repairs data.

"It does not have confidence in the integrity of its data and does not provide this information to tenants or senior leaders. Evidence indicated repairs is an area of concern for tenants and a significant driver of complaints."

Councillor Jay Hayes, the executive member for housing and planning at Nottingham City Council, said: "We have been aware of the need to significantly improve our housing services since we brought [Nottingham City Homes] back in house, so this judgement does not come as a surprise. Resident safety and the delivery of our housing services in line with tenant aspirations is a key priority and we're committed to making sure that the money we're investing in addressing some of the failings in the report is spent where it will have the most impact."

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The council says it is employing a dedicated team to clear the disrepair backlog and to address damp and mould issues. It has also established a new board made up of tenants who can scrutinise council services and recommend improvements.

Kate Dodsworth, the chief of regulatory engagement at the Regulator for Social Housing, said: "Having an effective repairs service and keeping accurate data are both vital for keeping tenants safe in their homes, especially when it comes to serious issues such as fire safety as well as damp and mould. It is positive that our planned inspections continue to bring issues to light earlier than they might otherwise.

"However, it is essential that landlords self-refer to us. As well as being a requirement in our standards, it shows us that they understand their responsibilities and take accountability."