The fire at Petworth Court (Credit: London Fire Brigade)
Octavia Housing hit national headlines in January 2024 when Petworth Court, Elm Road, Wembley Central. It emerged that Barry Gardiner, MP, had repeatedly raised concersn about the block with Octavia with little response. The Fire Brigades Union warned of 'criminal complacency' on the part of the then government and some building firms regarding cladding.
Now the Regulator of Social Housing has issued a Regulator Judgement on Octavia Housing:
The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate, up
to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes that
reliably informs their provision of good quality, well maintained and safe
homes for tenants. It also requires landlords to identify and meet all legal
requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and
communal areas, and that all required actions arising from legally required
health and safety assessments are carried out within appropriate timescales.
Following a serious fire at one of its properties in January 2024 and wider
review of its landlord health and safety compliance, Octavia
made a self-referral to us in respect of fire, electrical and gas safety.
Having sought further information including assurances on other areas of
building safety, we have concluded that there are serious failings in the
oversight, management, and delivery in several areas of Octavia’s
landlord health and safety responsibilities.
London Fire Brigade has issued Notifications of Fire Safety Deficiencies in
respect of 13 of Octavia’s buildings since
May 2023. Octavia currently has over 1,200
overdue fire safety remedial actions categorised as either high or medium
priority and has failed to take sufficient steps to mitigate the potential
risks to tenants identified.
Octavia was unable to provide
sufficient assurance that it meets other landlord health and safety
requirements. Octavia has failed to hold
complete and accurate records to confirm where health and safety inspections
are required, whether they had been carried out within legally required or
recommended timescales, and whether smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are
installed as legally required.
Octavia has been proactive in engaging
external support, increasing staff resource, and creating improvement plans to
increase its oversight of its health and safety compliance. It is currently
undertaking investigations to identify and address gaps in its records, develop
an effective programme of health and safety assessments and confirm the full
extent of remedial actions required to meet all legal requirements.
Octavia has reported that it recognises
that it can deliver its purpose more effectively by joining another landlord
and following the September 2023 Regulatory Judgement has been progressing the
work needed to achieve this. Ahead of this being delivered Octavia
has been able to draw on significant support from its preferred partner
landlord to deliver the improvements required.
Our engagement with Octavia will
continue to be intensive. We will seek evidence that gives us assurance that Octavia
is making sufficient progress on its investigations and delivery of its
improvement programme so that it is meeting its health and safety legal
requirements and delivering the outcomes of our standards. We are not proposing
to use our enforcement powers at this stage but will keep this under review as Octavia
seeks to resolve these issues. Our priority will be that risks to tenants are
adequately managed and mitigated.
The housing provider that Octavia was engaged in partnership talks with is Abri that itself has been subjected to a finding of severe maladminstration in two cases by the Housing Ombudsman. This caused Michael Gove, the then Secretary of State to write in December 2023:
In one case, you left one of your residents
with faulty windows for almost five years, with the resident waiting up to a
year to hear from you on multiple occasions. They were left with a cold
property in the winter and issues with insects during the summer. I am
disappointed to learn that these issues became so severe that she was forced to
leave the property.
In the second case, you failed to deal with a
complaint about damp and mould from a vulnerable resident with a heart
condition and who is registered blind. You carried out the same ineffective
repairs year after year, and failed to address the root causes, leaving your
vulnerable resident living in poor conditions for far too long.
When your residents report an issue, and
especially when vulnerable people are involved, it must be acted upon swiftly
and effectively. The tragic death of Awaab Ishak has shown that we must not be
complacent about issues that risk residents’ health.
I understand you have addressed all the
orders and recommendations made by the Ombudsman, including overhauling your
approach, processes and policies regarding damp and mould. I expect the changes
to make a significant difference to the service you deliver to your residents.
