Landlord law specialist slams councils after regulator highlights ‘serious failings’

Two rogue councils have been panned by a legal exert after they were severely criticised by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) for ‘serious failings’ in their management of social housing properties.

Newcastle City Council, which self-referred to the RSH, faced damning findings, including:

Over 1,800 overdue repair cases

Over 1,000 outstanding damp and mould issues

A significant backlog of fire safety remedial actions

A lack of up-to-date stock condition surveys

Insufficient information to understand tenant needs

A lack of an up-to-date domestic abuse policy.

Nottingham City Council also faced scrutiny, with the RSH highlighting:

A lack of accurate and up-to-date data on stock quality and decency

Nearly 1,000 live disrepair cases

Issues with data integrity

Weaknesses in its approach to gas safety

Inadequate tenant involvement in decision-making.

Phil Turtle, a director at Landlord Licensing & Defence, said: “These councils, hell-bent on squeezing private landlords, have proven themselves utterly incapable of managing their own properties.

“Private landlords would face crippling fines for these breaches, yet councils escape with little consequence.”

Turtle highlighted the stark disparity in treatment: “Imagine the fines levied on a private landlord for 3,800 property offences – potentially that’s a fine of £72 million.

“Yet, councils responsible for thousands of tenants suffer minimal repercussions.”

He added: “This system is broken. Councils must be held accountable for their failures; just as private landlords are. “Only then will we see a genuine improvement in social housing standards and a fairer playing field for all.”