In its latest batch of regulatory judgements, issued on 27 August, the Regulator of Social Housing has issued gradings for two local authorities, Kensington and Chelsea and Arun DC.

The Regulator assesses compliance with each of the four Consumer Standards – the Neighbourhood and Community, Safety and Quality, Tenancy, and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standards.

Kensington and Chelsea has been judged compliant with 3 of the 4 Standards, but to have seriously failed to meet the Safety and Quality Standard, largely because it has inadequate information about the quality of its housing stock – only 44% of individual property surveys have been carried out within the last 5 years. The council estimates that 33% of its homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard, although it aims to bring all homes up to the Standard by 2030.  It has been graded C3 by the Regulator.

Arun DC has received a C4 grading.  The Regulator found failings across all four Standards, and very serious failings in relation to the Safety and Quality Standard. In particular, it found over 1000 overdue fire risk assessment remedial actions, of which 700 were high risk and overdue for more than 12 months.  Over half its homes do not have smoke detectors installed.