The judgment of the Regulator of Social Housing on Brent Housing Management has not received as much pubicity as it deserved. Below residents from St Raphael's Estate and South Kilburn voice their concerns.
Letter to Kim Wright, Brent Council CEO:
Urgent Concerns Regarding the Safety and Condition of Homes on St. Raphael's Estate
Dear Kim
We, the residents of St. Raphael's Estate, are writing to express our profound and urgent concerns regarding the safety and overall condition of our homes. These concerns have been significantly heightened by the recent findings from Brent Council's self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), which have brought to light serious inadequacies in the management of housing safety.
We understand that Brent Council proactively referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing in April 2025, specifically concerning the quality and accuracy of its fire safety data. While we acknowledge the council's transparency in making this self-referral, the subsequent findings by the RSH are deeply troubling. The Regulator has issued a C3 grading, signifying "serious failings" in meeting consumer standards, particularly the Safety and Quality Standard, and has mandated "significant improvement."
Of particular alarm are the RSH's findings that:
Data for critical safety areas, including fire safety, smoke and carbon monoxide safety, asbestos management, and water safety, "could not be reconciled." This raises serious questions about the council's ability to accurately track and manage essential health and safety risks within its housing stock.
The council is currently "not able to determine which legally required checks and assessments have been completed," which is a fundamental requirement for ensuring tenant safety.
Despite the council reporting that it holds stock condition data for 95% of its properties, the RSH's engagement revealed that "almost half of its homes have not had a recorded survey." This significant gap means that the council lacks a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the condition of a substantial portion of its housing, making it difficult to assure residents that their homes meet the required standards.
These deficiencies, as highlighted by the Regulator, have directly "negatively affected service outcomes for tenants." For residents of St. Raphael's Estate, this translates into real anxiety about the safety and structural integrity of our homes. The lack of reliable data and recent surveys creates an environment of uncertainty, undermining our confidence in the council's ability to fulfil its responsibilities as a landlord.
We acknowledge the public apology from Councillor Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, Cabinet Member for Housing and Resident Services, and her commitment that the council is "determined to improve the quality of council homes." However, we urge you to translate these words into swift and demonstrable action, particularly for estates like St. Raphael's.
We request a clear and comprehensive plan outlining the specific steps Brent Council will take to address these critical issues on St. Raphael's Estate, including:
Immediate verification and rectification of all outstanding fire, health, and safety actions for properties on our estate.
Expedited completion of recorded surveys for all homes on St. Raphael's Estate that currently lack them, ensuring a full and accurate understanding of their condition.
Improved communication channels with residents regarding ongoing safety works and the progress made in addressing the RSH's findings.
Assurance that robust data management systems are in place and functioning effectively to prevent similar issues in the future.
The safety and well-being of the residents of St. Raphael's Estate are paramount. We look forward to your prompt response and a clear commitment to resolving these serious concerns to ensure that all our homes are safe, decent, and well-maintained.
Yours sincerely,
Asif Zamir
Letter to Kilburn Times LINK from Pete Firmin, Chair, Alpha, Gorefield and Canterbury Tenants and Residents Association (South Kilburn)
I’m surprised 2 weeks have passed and you still haven’t published anything on the Regulator of Social Housings’ damning judgement on Brent Council. I would have thought this an important issue for a local paper to cover, especially as you have reported on individual cases of neglect by Brent in the past. This report shows that the problem goes much deeper than individual cases. Their report concludes “Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord [i.e. Brent] delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed.”
Brent tries to excuse itself by pointing out it referred itself to the regulator, admitting failings. But Brent is itself unaware of the extent of its own failings. Or perhaps, as with so much else, in denial. Council tenants are aware of these failings, so when Brent claims it carries out electrical checks in homes every 5 years, many tenants know this doesn’t happen. While tenants have annual gas checks, Brent carries out no checks on leaseholder dwellings in Council blocks, rather undermining the point of the checks which do happen. Council Officers not knowing the layout of buildings where they hold safety meetings doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Around the same time, the Housing Ombudsman reported that complaints by social housing tenants about shabby repairs have risen by 474% over the last 5 years. While that figure is national, Brent tenants are all too familiar with that problem too. Delays and botched repairs are par for the course. Brent’s own surveys of satisfaction among tenants reflect this.
When Brent’s lead member for housing, Councillor Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, says “we will continue to work proactively, positively and in an open and transparent way with our residents and with the Regulator to fix the issues identified. Council tenants are at the heart of this improvement work through the new Housing Management Advisory Board. By listening to their experiences and ideas, we can make better decisions and build a housing service that residents can trust”, Council tenants are aware of how little openness and transparency there is in Brent housing, and how Council officers rarely work positively with tenants and their representatives, often the opposite.
While these reports vindicate what tenants have been saying for years, and Brent has denied, we would much prefer if Brent had got its act together in the first place. Brent has said it has new procedures in place to rectify the problems. We hope so, but excuse us if we don’t hold our breath, we have heard such claims many times before.
I, along with hundreds of others, took part in the Silent Walk for Grenfell on Saturday, 8 years after the terrible fire which killed 72 people. One of the many lessons of Grenfell is that the local authority did not listen to warnings from tenants and their representatives. A lesson that Brent should learn too.
Pete Firmin,
Chair, Alpha, Gorefield and Canterbury Tenants and Residents Association
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