Regulator of Social Housing hands London borough lowest possible consumer grade after catalogue of serious failings

This followed an RSH inspection which found a series of very serious failings. Issues identified by the Regulator in its judgment included:

• A substantial backlog of overdue repairs including damp and mould cases, poor tenant satisfaction, and weaknesses in performance, oversight and assurance.
• Only around half of non-emergency repairs reported were completed on time in 2025/26.
• Despite improvement activity over several years, outcomes remain poor and tenants continue to experience delays, missed appointments and communication failures.
• Almost 4,000 remedial fire safety actions are overdue – including more than 1,400 actions categorised as high risk.
• Not providing timely responses or demonstrating learning from complaints.
• A failure to inform the RSH about significant issues which had emerged.

Haringey LBC is the first local authority to receive a C4 grade since Basildon was hit with the same rating in April 2026 for a number of issues, including the council's engagement with tenants and a lack of meaningful opportunities for them to scrutinise the landlord.

The north London authority is the ninth council overall to receive a C4 grade. It joins a list of eight to currently hold the grade with Castle Point Borough Council having been upgraded from C4 to C3 in April 2026 following a period of ongoing engagement.

RSH Deputy Chief Executive Kate Dodsworth said: “A C4 judgement sends a clear signal that tenants have been let down and that urgent and sustained improvement is needed.

“We will maintain intensive engagement and close oversight, set clear expectations for improvement and, if necessary, use our powers to make sure change happens.

“We expect landlords in this position to take urgent action to address and fix the issues identified and improve outcomes for tenants.”

Jess Crowe, Corporate Director for Culture, Strategy and Communities for Haringey, said: “We take the Regulator’s judgement very seriously and fully accept its findings.

“I would like to unreservedly apologise to our tenants and leaseholders for the serious failings identified during the inspection. Our residents deserve better from their landlord.

“The seriousness of this judgement requires dedicated strategic leadership across our Housing functions, and I will bring forward an immediate restructure proposal to enable us to achieve this.”

Crowe added: “We have historically been very honest and open to external and regulatory scrutiny, and I am deeply concerned that this does not appear to have been the case with the Regulator of Social Housing. We have commissioned an urgent, independent review into why incomplete information was provided to the Regulator in 2025 and why further proactive self-reporting was not undertaken after 2022, so that we can tackle this issue head on.”

Crowe also said a refreshed Housing Transformation Plan will come to Cabinet early in 2027 that will address each of the Regulator’s points and any findings from the independent review.

She concluded: “Resident safety remains our priority. Where fire safety actions remain outstanding, appropriate mitigations are in place, and risks are kept under regular review while permanent solutions are implemented.”

Council Leader Cllr Mark Blake said: “For tenants and leaseholders who have spent years dealing with poor repairs, ignored complaints, and concerns about safety, today’s report will be deeply concerning, but not surprising.

“The Grenfell tragedy showed us that nothing is more important than being transparent about fire safety. Staggeringly, under the previous administration the council did not inform the Regulator of Social Housing of the true extent of fire safety risks.

“While we did not create this crisis, we will prioritise solving it.”

Also in the latest round of consumer gradings, South Holland District Council in Lincolnshire has received an upgrade to C1.

Harry Rodd