Regulator of Social Housing Judgement - C3
A Message from Cllr Vanessa Smith, Portfolio Holder of Housing
Dear tenants,
The Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) completed a thorough inspection of Broxtowe Borough Council in October 2025, in relation to the Regulator’s consumer standards, which are:
- The Safety and Quality Standard, which requires landlords to provide safe and good-quality homes for their tenants, along with good-quality landlord services
- The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, which requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so they can access services, raise concerns when necessary, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account
- The Neighbourhood and Community Standard, which requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes
- The Tenancy Standard, which sets requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for how tenancies are managed by landlords.
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Following the inspection, Broxtowe Borough Council has received a C3 rating from RSH, meaning that the Council is not meeting the Regulator’s requirements and must work to improve its position. This is the first time that the Council has been assessed in this way following the introduction of new regulations as part of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. Detail of the judgement can be found here.
The inspection concluded that there are serious failings in two areas, which are:
- Fire safety: a lack of clarity about the length of time fire safety actions have been open, as well as a lack of evidence of mitigations in place while these actions remain outstanding.
- Diverse needs: not fully understanding the diverse needs of all our tenants, meaning the Council is unable to proactively tailor services to meet all tenants’ needs, or demonstrate that tenants are receiving fair and equitable outcomes.
The inspection also identified some weaknesses, which included:
- Data quality and up to date information on the quality of all of our tenants’ homes
- The approach to collecting and providing performance information to tenants (which limits how tenants can scrutinise performance)
- Limited evidence of how the Council identifies and shares lessons learnt from complaints
- The accessibility of information available for tenants reporting ASB and hate crime, and how the Council takes prompt and appropriate action.
The inspection did identify a number of positives, with RSH having assurance that the Council is…
- meeting legal requirements for completing the majority of tests and assessments in all safety and quality areas
- delivering an effective, efficient and timely repairs and maintenance and planned improvement service for our tenants (Tenant Satisfaction Measures data for the last two years demonstrates an improvement in tenant satisfaction with repairs)
- Treating tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect
- working in partnership to deter and tackle ASB and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods that we provide social housing
- meeting the tenure requirements of the Tenancy standard.
I am naturally disappointed with the judgement, because I know how hard colleagues are working to provide a quality service.
However, I do welcome the Regulator’s report and the feedback provided as it is a fair reflection of where we are and gives us clarity on what we need to improve.
The Leader of the Council and I have met with Officers and shared the key message that improvement to meet the Regulatory standards is a top priority. Two tenant representatives are now attending the monthly Housing Improvement Board with me to enhance the tenant voice and strengthen scrutiny.
I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to one of two sessions so that you can meet Zulf Darr, Interim Chief Executive Officer and learn more about our plans for improvement:
- Thursday 22 January: 6pm – 7pm at Council Chamber, Broxtowe Borough Council, Foster Avenue, NG9 1AB
- Thursday 29 January: 6pm – 7pm at The Glebe, Linwood Crescent, NG16 3HD.
Our focus remains on delivering safe, high-quality homes for our residents, and we are committed to learning from the inspection and demonstrating progress. We will continue to work closely with the Regulator as we continue to implement actions within the Service Improvement Plan over the coming months.
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