Social housing in East Devon gets second-highest rating

But more than 300 properties not of decent standard

A Devon council has secured the second-highest rating for the quality of its social housing in its first assessment by a national watchdog.

East Devon District Council bagged a C2 rating, one rung down from the top C1 rating for consumer standards, in the first official scrutiny by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The regulator assesses four aspects including the quality of the council’s housing, tenant safety, and its transparency and accountability to residents.

East Devon was deemed to be performing well in terms of housing quality, health and safety compliance, tenant engagement and complaints handling and learning.

This result comes as the council has just concluded a survey of its social housing properties to fully understand the scale of repairs needed across the estate.

A total of 93 per cent of its more than 4,500 homes secured a pass rate in line with the Decent Homes Standard, compared to an average of 89 per cent for councils nationally, according to its stock condition survey.

Just over 6 per cent of the homes in East Devon failed to secure this standard, predominantly due to inadequate heating or insulation.

Councillor Dan Ledger (Independent, Seaton), the cabinet member for sustainable homes and communities, said the positive review from the regulator was “one of our biggest achievements”.

“Only 21 organisations have secured a C2 rating or higher, so we are right up there,” he said.

“I can’t thank Catrin [Stark, the director of housing and health] and the senior directors enough, they’ve done such great work”

In terms of health and safety, the council said it was “broadly compliant” and has, by working with the UK Health and Security Agency, actively addressed areas of elevated radon risk.

It said it was also improving its oversight of health and safety issues, and is improving the process used for reporting issues with properties..

The council also said it had revised its procedures for dealing with complaints and looked at how it reports data on the likes of improvements and repairs to tenants.

Cllr Ledger added that inspection confirmed the progress the council’s housing team was making, including investing in better data to engaging tenants and addressing areas of improvements.

“The Regulator of Social Housing’s judgement provides a strong platform for further progress and helps us focus on where we can do better,” he said.

“We’ll continue working closely with the regulator as we move towards meeting C1 standards, while keeping our tenants at the heart of everything we do.”

A spokesperson for the council said work was occurring in all the areas that the regulator assessed, which helped it secure the C2 rating, and that it was now working on a plan to try and reach the highest C1 level.

The RSH began its inspection programme of inspecting large social landlords – housing associations and councils with more than 1,000 homes – on 1 April 2024.

The inspections are planned to take place every four years and are one of the key changes to RSH’s approach resulting from the landmark Social Housing Regulation Act.