Nottingham's full council housing stock to be inspected

A council report showed "considerable work" was needed, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said

All 26,000 Nottingham council homes will be checked over to make sure they are up to new standards.

New benchmarks have been set by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), that all landlords must now follow.

A city council report recently revealed "considerable work" was needed for the authority's housing stock to meet the new regulatory standards.

Councillors were told at a meeting on Monday that a full condition check had not been done for at least eight years.

The council now directly manages social housing after winding up its arms-length management organisation, Nottingham City Homes (NCH).

NCH was moved in-house after it emerged in 2021 that millions of pounds in rent payers' money, from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), was unlawfully diverted to the general fund for other services, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

It was later recommended that NCH be brought in-house.

Of the housing checks, Geoff Wharton, consultant strategic director of housing, said: "There are going to be boots on the ground in the next few months, and they are going to do a 100% stock condition survey in the next year."

According to the LDRS, documents say the RSH expects "only a few" housing services to achieve its highest rating.

If a service gets the lowest two ratings, the RSH will work with the provider to make sure critical changes are made.

The new standards came in after a more effective regulatory regime was established under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, created following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.