Self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing

In April 2024, we took the decision to refer ourselves to the government's Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) for a potential breach of its consumer standards.

We asked the Regulator to undertake a review of our performance, in relation to the recently adopted Consumer Standards which apply to all registered providers of social housing. 

We specifically asked the Regulator to look at issues around record keeping and ensuring all safety measures meet the required standard.  The type of safety being referred to is, for example, whether electrical testing has been done. 

The Regulator has now reached its conclusions and published a Regulatory Notice, where it confirms our concerns and details its findings, along with recommendations for which areas need addressing most urgently.  

We accept the findings of the Regulator and are very sorry that we have fallen below these standards. We are working hard to put things right quickly and improve our arrangements for the maintenance of council owned homes. 

We apologise unreservedly to all our council tenants. All tenants should expect us to deliver a high standard of housing and comply with national standards, and we share these expectations.  

We will continue working with the Regulator until we have satisfied their concerns and achieved full compliance for our tenants.

We have written to all Bristol City Council tenants to share this information and to provide an update on what we will be doing next.

If you are a tenant and have any immediate concerns or questions, please get in touch by emailing us please contact us by emailing HCS@bristol.gov.uk, calling freephone 0800 694 0184 or get in touch with your local ward councillor.

Background

As a landlord, we are committed to providing decent homes for our tenants and there are rules and standards we must meet. These standards are set by the Regulator of Social Housing who oversee all social housing landlords and make sure that the standards and rules they set are met.  

To meet these standards, we have a regular schedule of repairs and maintenance, surveys, refurbishments and other works being carried out throughout the year.  

The Regulator says that in coming to its judgement it has considered the range and significance of a number of health and safety areas, the lack of accurate data on stock quality, and failings in our repairs and maintenance service. It also says that the arrangements we have in place for record keeping and planning maintenance require improvement.  

Officers worked with the Regulator to provide the information needed to fully respond to the judgement.

What happens next?

We will continue working with the Regulator, who will assess our efforts on an ongoing basis.

We are taking urgent action to address these concerns. 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. 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 tenants with relevant information about their homes.  

Before we received the Regulator's judgement, we had already realised many of the issues ourselves, and asked expert consultants Savills to review our performance. Their findings and recommendations have helped us understand where we must prioritise our efforts. 

We are currently preparing an improvement plan that aims to address the findings of Savills' work and the RSH judgement, whilst also putting in place better ways to maintain a high standard of compliance in the future.  

We will keep residents regularly updated on the progress of improvements and works. We will do what we can to make sure our tenants have opportunities to talk to us about their housing, in a way that suits their needs. This will include working with local groups and community leaders to inform our work. Our plan will need to meet the requirements of the national standards and also reflect the needs and views of our tenants.  

Over the coming months, there will be opportunities for tenants to discuss this judgement and our plan of action directly with us.

Letter sent to tenants

Your questions answered

If you've got a question about our self-referral, check the documents below to see if we've already answered your query:

If we've not answered your question:

Tell us about a problem with a form, page or Citizen Portal account