Borough council hit with lowest possible consumer grade by Regulator of Social Housing

Runnymede made a self-referral to RSH in June 2025, prior to inspection, after it had identified issues relating to rent setting.

The regulator identified issues in several other areas at inspection including:

• Runnymede had carried out surveys of 58% of its homes since 2021, but only 30% had a full stock condition survey.
• Inadequate monitoring and reporting of hazards in tenants’ homes, with almost 250 previously unknown hazards identified as a direct result of RSH’s inspection.
• No evidence that the council was checking the accuracy and integrity of data for required health and safety checks and actions.
• A lack of understanding of the diverse needs of its tenants and very serious failings of taking tenants’ views into account in decision-making and service delivery.

Although Runnymede has indicated a willingness to address these failings, the Regulator said it had not seen evidence that the council fully understands the potential risks to tenants.

Serious failings were also uncovered in Runnymede’s approach to rent setting for some homes.

Additionally, the City of London Corporation and Rugby Borough Council received C3 gradings following inspections.

The City of London Corporation was found to have:

• Large numbers of outstanding remedial actions arising from electrical safety checks.
• More than 1,000 overdue fire safety actions, some of which are high risk and have been overdue for over a year.
• 18% of homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard and based on current plans the Decent Homes Standard will not be met in all homes until 2035.

At Rugby, RSH found:

• The council commissioned stock condition surveys for 86% of its homes but only holds partial data so cannot fully analyse the results.
• It reports that 99.54% of homes meet the Decent Homes Standard, though this has not been verified against the survey information.
• The council identified 800 homes with Electrical Installation Condition Reports over five years old – and 600 homes without a smoke alarm.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said: “Our inspections continue to highlight significant gaps in some landlords’ understanding of tenants and their homes, reinforcing the need for accurate, up‑to‑date information to ensure safe, decent housing.

“We will continue to hold landlords to account, and drive continuous improvement, to ensure tenants live in good quality homes and receive effective services.”

Cllr Mike Smith, Chair of Runnymede Borough Council’s Housing Committee said: “The Regulator’s report mirrors much of our own existing improvement plan, which identified what needs to be done to address historic issues with Runnymede’s social housing stock. 

“Since 2021, we have supported a multi-year capital works programme, and that work continues, and tenants can be reassured of our commitment to improving our housing stock and tenant experience.  We are committed to achieving the new Customer Standard. One example of how we will do this is the whole stock survey, which is due to be completed by the end of March this year. We have also already agreed to take on more staff to support our team.”

Cllr Smith added: “A significant part of the judgement relates to rent, which was a historic item where we self-referred to the Regulator ahead of any knowledge of an impending inspection. Having commissioned third party assurance, we identified those impacted by the issue and financially made good on that original error.

“We are committed to achieving full compliance with the Decent Homes Standard in this coming financial year, and we are ahead of target in delivering that ambition.

“We will be contacting all of our tenants to advise them of the Report’s findings.”

Harry Rodd