Government starts naming and shaming underperforming social landlords

Inside Housing revealed in March that the government intended to start naming and shaming under-performing social landlords as part of its sweeping reforms of the sector. 

Following this, the government announced that it would be highlighting “poor practice by landlords, including on its social media platforms”. 

This includes severe maladministration findings and judgements by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) that landlords have breached consumer standards. 

The housing secretary will write, “where appropriate”, to social landlords to find out what they are doing to address those findings. 

In June, former housing secretary Michael Gove wrote to Housing Plus Group about its treatment of a tenant who suffered years of disrepair and a bedbug infestation. Mr Gove branded it “completely unacceptable” in a public letter. 

In August, rough sleeping and housing minister Eddie Hughes wrote to Metropolitan Thames Valley over its failures in response to a silverfish infestation at a resident’s flat. 

The government said it expects all landlords to self-refer any breaches to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). 

“Where landlords have failed to self-refer and a breach is found, they will be contacted by ministers,” it said. 

The naming and shaming is part of wider reform to the social housing sector following the Grenfell Tower disaster. 

The government published its long-awaited Social Housing Regulation Bill in June, five years after the fire that claimed 72 lives. 

It put into law a host of reforms to the regulation of the sector after it emerged that safety concerns raised by Grenfell residents were ignored. 

As part of the reforms, the government has set up a 250-strong resident panel, expanded the role of the English regulator to be more consumer-focused, and said it intends to carry out ‘Ofsted-style’ inspections of landlords with only 48 hours’ notice.