Association exposed tenants to increased fire risk

The Homes and Communities Agency, in a regulatory notice today, said that Orbit Group had failed to meet its Home Standard and also to fulfil statutory duties to prevent fire risk.

It has also today had its governance rating downgraded to a compliant ‘G2’ rating as a result.

It becomes the first housing association to meet the regulator’s ‘serious detriment’ threshold for HCA intervention on consumer issues for fire safety reasons.

The notice revealed Orbit in July reported to the HCA that it believed it was in breach of statutory duties by failing to implement ‘high risk’ actions arising from fire risk assessments.

The association found that there had been hundreds of actions to improve fire safety that had been outstanding for more than two years. These actions included repairs to fire doors and lighting, removal of rubbish and carrying out further assessments to rectify known problems. Under fire safety legislation, landlords have a statutory duty to take precautions to prevent fire risk from identified hazards.

The regulatory notice said: “Fire self-evidently is important because of the potentially fatal consequences. In this case, the regulator has concluded that the risk of serious harm is demonstrated because a large number of tenants had been exposed via unimplemented high risk actions to an increased risk of danger from fire over a long period of time.”

The problem “appears to have occurred during a restructure of Orbit Group’s subsidiaries”, the HCA said.

The regulatory notice however makes it clear there have been no fires as a result of the outstanding actions and that all properties had legally-required alarms and emergency lighting systems. It said that Orbit has been advised by its lawyers there is a low risk of prosecution as a result of the outstanding work.

A separate regulatory judgement today criticised Orbit for inadequate health and safety performance management information and “a failure of operating internal control and board oversight”. Its downgrade to ‘G2’, means it complies on governance but needs to improve. Orbit retains the highest possible ‘V1’ grading for financial viability.

Orbit is implementing an action plan to improve its health and safety and has reviewed its operational controls. The HCA will decide on whether to use its powers depending on how successful the recovery plan is.

A spokesperson for Orbit said the association “fully accepts the HCA’s conclusions”. She said: “We take the safety and security of our customers very seriously and we will complete the outstanding works as quickly as possible.”

In another judgement today, Redditch Borough Council was found to have exposed tenants to potential serious harm because of out of date gas safety certificates, breaching the Home Standard. The council has put in place a plan to rectify the failures.

Hundred Houses Society, which owns 1,300 homes in Cambridgeshire, had its governance rating downgraded to ‘G3’, meaning it does not comply with the HCA’s governance and financial viability standard. This was due to a breach of an existing lending agreement without the board being aware. As a result Hundred  Houses is working with the regulator to improve its governance.