'Adur District Council in Breach of Home Standard After Unsafe Housing Revealed'
Key Highlights :
A recent review into council housing in Adur District Council has revealed that some properties are “unsafe” and breach regulatory standards. In particular, the review found that some of the council’s housing stock lacked proper health and safety equipment, and did not have up to date fire, electrical and asbestos safety checks, nor did it have smoke alarms. As a result, the council has referred itself to the regulator and suggested that it could be in breach of the national home standard.
The national social housing regulator has now written to the council to confirm that it is indeed in breach of the home standard. The council is now working with the regulator to tackle health and safety issues in its homes. Councillor Carson Albury, Adur's cabinet member for Adur homes and customer services, said: “Everyone living in our properties deserves to have a good, safe and secure home and we are committed to working with the regulator and our residents to make this a reality.”
The council has blamed years of rent restrictions imposed by the government for the lack of investment in its housing stock, which is mostly more than 50 years old. The council has accepted that this has meant it has not invested and improved its homes in the way it should have done for a number of years. As a result, it has created a new programme of health and safety checks and property surveys in order to bring its housing up to standard.
The issues raised by the review into council housing in Adur serve as a reminder of the importance of ensuring that all social housing is safe and up to the required standard. The council’s commitment to working with the regulator to resolve its issues is encouraging and should ensure that residents of Adur are provided with safe and secure homes. However, it is also important to note that the lack of investment in the council’s housing stock is a result of government rent restrictions, and is an issue that needs to be addressed in order to ensure that all social housing is up to the required standard.
