Regulator of Social Housing finds council in breach of Home Standard over failure to conduct health and safety assessments in thousands of homes

The Royal Borough of Greenwich has breached the Home Standard and, as a consequence, there was potential for serious detriment to tenants, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has concluded.

The RSH launched an investigation after a self-referral by the council as the local authority had identified a potential failure to meet statutory health and safety requirements in some of its homes.

The regulator said Greenwich revealed it had not completed electrical safety checks for every property which needed one, and that remedial actions from fire risk assessments were overdue.

The council also told the RSH that it did not have current water safety risk assessments for all communal residential blocks and that there had not been a programme for reviewing asbestos surveys.

In a regulatory notice the regulator confirmed that the council failed to carry out health and safety assessments across thousands of its homes. This included checks for fire, electrical, water and asbestos safety.

The regulator said that the council had started to put in place a programme to rectify the failures and had assured the RSH that it is taking action to remedy the breach of standard.

The regulator will therefore not take statutory action at this stage. It will work with Greenwich as it continues to address the issues which had led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.

Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at RSH, said: “We welcome the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s self-referral which recognises that the failure to meet health and safety requirements has put tenants at potential risk. We will be monitoring the council closely as they take action to put things right.”

In a statement Greenwich Council said: “On 13 May 2022, we referred ourselves voluntarily to the Regulator of Social Housing, following an internal review where we found we were not fully meeting safety standards in some areas.

“We take residents’ safety extremely seriously and are currently rapidly addressing the backlog. We have already completed some of the outstanding actions needed, and residents will have seen work being carried out in their home or estate over the past few months. We have also implemented an action plan to improve our safety work in the long term, with checks in place to make sure we are effective, and will continue to work closely with the Regulator for Social Housing on this issue.

“If residents have any questions or concerns about the safety of their home, please contact the Council on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..”