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Newcastle Council plans to visit nearly 26,000 residents to help fill compliance gaps
Newcastle City Council is planning to visit all of its nearly 26,000 households in a bid to get a “greater understanding of its residents and their homes”.
The move forms part of its council housing delivery plan to improve services after it revealed last October that it had identified 16 compliance gaps with the consumer standards and the rent standard.
At the time, the council said it did not have an up-to-date stock condition survey, lacks assurance on its Decent Homes Standard data, and has been “potentially overcharging” tenants for rent.
The local authority found the issues during a review of its housing services following the recent closure of Your Homes Newcastle, its ALMO.
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Many of the gaps were the responsibility of the council, not the ALMO, including the allocations policy, stock condition surveys, domestic abuse policy and setting rent.
It has made a self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) over its compliance with the consumer standards and the rent standard.
A new report, set to go before cabinet next week, gives an update on what the council has been doing on compliance.
It said: “It is crucial for us to be a key part of the communities we serve. In excess of 20% of residents of the city live in council-owned properties.
“As part of the council housing delivery plan, we introduced ‘getting to know you’ visits where we commit to visiting approximately 24,000 tenants and our 1,945 leaseholders in order to be more visible and to help us get a greater understanding of our residents and homes.”
The council carried out a pilot visiting exercise in November at one of its blocks and developed an implementation plan based on learning from it, such as the best times to contact people and the most helpful questions to ask.
The roll-out of visits to all residents then launched in December 2024.
“We anticipate it will take around a year using both frontline staff and others in the directorate to knock at every door,” the report said.
Elsewhere, the council is carrying out a 100% stock condition survey of all its homes; 3,041 were completed by the end of October.
Of those, surveyors issued 164 Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) notifications, of which 12 were Category 1 hazards where immediate works were required to make properties safe.
The council said it is on track to complete all inspections by June 2027.
On compliance with the rent standard, the council’s assessment found that it had “some isolated issues” in relation to the affordable rent properties, “caused by a specific process failure whereupon an affordable rent property [became] void and [was] subsequently re-let, [and] an up-to-date, professional valuation of the current market rent was not carried out”.
“As a result of this exercise this process gap has now been addressed,” the report said.
The report also details an uptick in the number of damp and mould reports, “mainly due to stock condition surveys”, and the council expects this to continue as a result of the programme and resident visits.
A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: “We want to make sure the homes and housing services we provide meet the needs of our residents now and in the future.
“As part of our council housing delivery plan, we have introduced ‘getting to know you’ visits where we have committed to visiting approximately 24,000 tenants and our 1,945 leaseholders in order to be more visible and to help us get a greater understanding of our residents and their homes.”
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