RSH downgrades RBH to G3 and issues regulatory notice

In its regulatory judgement on Thursday (15 December), the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) said that the downgrade to G3 is because of the failure of RBH’s board to act with an “appropriate degree of skill, diligence, effectiveness, prudence and foresight in response to the most serious of consequences”.

 

The regulator has also published a regulatory notice stating that RBH has breached the Home Standard and parts of the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard, which led to actual and potential serious detriment to RBH’s tenants.

 

RBH made a self-referral to the regulator in January 2021 following the death in December 2020 of Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy who lived with his parents on RBH’s Freehold Estate in Rochdale.

 

RBH reported that the coroner was investigating the condition of Awaab’s home, including whether this was linked to his death. The RSH reviewed the information available at that time and decided that it would revisit the case once the inquest had concluded in order to review any new evidence.

 

In November, the coroner concluded that the toddler died as a result of prolonged exposure to mould in his RBH-owned flat.

 

The RSH said that the death and subsequent events led to “apparent action by RBH”.

 

But it said the housing association missed opportunities over a two-year period to act in a “timely, effective and proactive manner to strengthen its risk controls and assurance relating to damp and mould hazard as more information came to light”.

 

The RSH concluded that it lacks assurance that RBH’s governance arrangements ensure that the provider is accountable to tenants, the regulator and relevant stakeholders, and that they safeguard the reputation of the sector.

 

It said this was because of the housing association’s failure to take sufficiently swift and robust action to address material risks relating to damp and mould conditions in its properties.

 

The regulator found that RBH breached the Home Standard. It concluded that RBH’s repairs and maintenance service did not respond to the needs of Awaab and his family, as well as a “significant number” of other tenants on the Freehold Estate that the family lived on.

 

The regulator said RBH’s board failed to take appropriate steps to ensure the integrity of its data relating to the condition of its properties, which adversely impacted its decision-making and scrutiny of the risks.

 

RBH did not survey the Freehold Estate until August 2022. This survey found that almost 80 per cent of properties inspected had damp and mould issues of varying severity.

 

The regulator said the results and timing of the survey “severely undermines” the credibility of the assurance upon which RBH’s board had relied.

 

The RSH said that it is not clear why RBH was unaware of these problems given that they are widespread across the properties on the Freehold Estate.

 

The regulator said that the outcomes in this case show that RBH has failed to hear from tenants about the conditions of their homes.

 

It added that the housing association has failed to communicate in a way that is appropriate to the diverse needs of tenants in line with the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard.

 

RBH has now acknowledged that it made assumptions about the family’s lifestyle, the regulator added.

 

RSH said this affected its decisions about how damp and mould at the property were dealt with and, as a consequence, it failed to comply with the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard which requires providers to treat tenants with fairness and respect.

 

The regulator said that at this time, it “lacks assurance that the attitudes towards, and assumptions about, Awaab’s family are not a wider issue” with the potential to affect other RBH tenants.

 

Furthermore, the RSH said that other families on the Freehold Estate have also experienced harm as a result of the quality of the accommodation provided by RBH, so it does not have assurance that other tenants have not been similarly put at risk as a result of these failings.