East Suffolk Council
Regulator for Social Housing – Regulatory Judgement
Having undertaken wholescale ‘Stock Condition Surveys’ of its social housing properties, East Suffolk Council has acknowledged that many of its homes fail to meet what is known as the ‘Decent Homes Standard’. As a result, the Council referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing and from the evidence we supplied, the Regulator will be issuing a ‘Regulatory Judgement’ today.
This is a grading they use to assess how well Councils meet their published Consumer Standards. The Regulator has identified serious failings in how East Suffolk Council is delivering its Safety and Quality Standard obligations, and that significant improvement is needed. Based on their assessment, they have concluded a C3 grade for East Suffolk Council.
The Decent Homes Standard is a set of minimum standards for the condition of socially rented homes. It ensures that homes are fit for habitation, are in a reasonable state of repair, have modern facilities, and provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
The Council has written to all tenants explaining the current situation and at present, while a significant number of our homes are classed as ‘non-decent’, there are currently only four with the most concerning ‘Category 1 Hazard’ out of 4,345 properties, while around 200 are placed in Category 2.
Anyone whose home has been identified as having a Category 1 Hazard, has already been notified of the need for a further inspection or the need for repairs to be completed.
East Suffolk Council recognises and accepts the findings of the Regulator and the grading of the judgement. However, we also note that the Regulator – in their judgement – has also stated that:
“East Suffolk Council has been engaging constructively with us and has put in a place an improvement plan to rectify these failures, which includes completing its current stock condition survey programme, developing a fully costed investment plan to address non-decency, and implementing a new compliance management system.
“East Suffolk Council has also developed and implemented a new procedure and tracker for managing hazards and damp and mould cases and is working to resolve these issues.”
As part of this assessment, the Regulator has also considered the progress we have made following the previous Regulatory Notice issued in May 2022, which was as a result of failings in relation to statutory Health and Safety checks (including Fire Risk Assessments and Gas and Electrical Servicing) and due to incorrect rent and service charges being levied.
We have provided evidence that we have addressed the issues relating to the Rent Standard that were summarised in the Regulatory Notice dated May 2022. This has included ensuring that all rents and service charges have been correctly calculated since April 2023 and refunding over £8 Million in overpayments to tenants and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Regulator’s findings will be published on their website, in the form of a Regulatory Judgement, on 30 July 2025. Judgements are published to provide full transparency for Tenants and the public.
Cllr David Beavan, Cabinet Member for Housing, said:
“We are incredibly disappointed by the issues that we have uncovered by undertaking a comprehensive Stock Condition Survey. We are entirely committed to addressing issues and ensuring that the services we provide meet the needs of our tenants and enable them to live safely in their homes.
“Over the last few months, we have been able to appoint additional capacity to key roles, with further recruitment planned over the coming weeks. The creation of these additional roles will help to strengthen our position and provide more resilience to deal with the scale of improvements required.
“We are committed to improving the services and quality of homes we deliver to tenants. We look forward to continuing our engagement with the Regulator, as we further progress our improvement plan, including completing the remaining Stock Condition Surveys, creation of the Capital Investment Plan, and implementation of new ICT Systems.”
The Council has set up a dedicated web page which contains information about the current situation and which will be updated regularly.