Council prepares for overdue social housing survey despite harsh penalties for landlords

Despite punishing landlords with hefty fines for selective licensing rules and failing to inspect private rented sector properties, one council will finally inspect its social housing stock after eight years.

Nottingham City Council has announced a full survey of its 26,000 council homes which will take two years to complete.

The long-delayed survey, originally announced earlier this year, will be conducted by Savills and will include Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) assessments and EPC surveys.

This is despite Nottingham City Council forcing landlords to comply with regulations or face expensive fines and requiring inspections to take place at least once every five years.

Provide better housing

The council says the survey will help plan future investments to boost energy efficiency, maintain homes effectively, and offer value for money.

Councillor Jay Hayes, Nottingham City Council’s executive member for housing and planning, said: “We care about the quality of our homes and the safety and wellbeing of our residents.

“With this as a priority, the citywide survey will allow us to take a proactive approach to making sure that our social housing stock meets the government’s Decent Homes standard, and that we’re meeting our aims of serving people well and providing better housing.”

Mishandling of selective licensing fees

The survey comes after the council took over Nottingham City Homes (NCH), which used to manage social housing and handled the last survey eight years ago.

NCH was shut down after it was found that millions from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) had been wrongly moved to the council’s general fund.

The issue was uncovered in 2021 with an estimate that it would cost the council £51m to rectify.

Another report exposed the council’s mishandling of selective licensing fees.

The report reveals one of the main sources of licensing income for the council is selective licensing.

According to its annual expenditure report, the council spent a whopping £4.2 million on selective licensing between 2020/1 and another £2.8 million in 2021/22.

Previously Nottingham City Council told Property118 that the selective licensing scheme is not designed to make a profit and the fees solely cover the costs of setting up, operating, and delivering the scheme in the city.

An absolute mockery

Mick Roberts, one of Nottingham’s largest landlords helping benefit tenants, slammed the council for the overdue social housing survey.

He tells Property118: “It’s an absolute mockery.  Licensing insists that inspections in the private rented sector have to happen regularly (every 4-6 months), but they can’t even manage to inspect their own properties.

“It raises questions about who will be inspecting them. If an independent inspector were brought in, they’d likely find many Category One Hazards—just like they do in landlords’ properties.

“For example, a loose carpet tack on stairs is classified as a Category One hazard, even if it’s the tenant’s carpet. The landlord is still held responsible for the stairs, and Category One hazards look bad for landlords while inflating the numbers.”

Previously Mr Roberts told Property118 that despite the council demanding inspections take place every five years he has had zero inspections inside his properties.

Mr Roberts says it was only at the end of the five-year scheme that the council asked to inspect his properties.

He adds: “One month before the end of the scheme, they asked to inspect two of my properties. I’m sure this was just to get inspection numbers up.”

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