An important part of our role as your landlord is to complete checks on a regular basis to ensure the safety of your home.
These checks include:
- gas-safety and electrical-safety checks
- fire-risk assessments
- asbestos management surveys in communal areas
- monitoring for Legionella and water hygiene risks
- lift maintenance
We recently conducted an internal review of how well we are doing in completing these checks – or how ‘compliant’ we are. We identified some areas where checks or tasks are overdue.
The key areas we are focused on relate to:
- overdue electrical-safety checks
- overdue asbestos surveys in some communal areas
- overdue tasks identified as part of completed fire-risk assessments
Electrical-safety checks
We should inspect and test for electrical safety in our tenants’ homes every 10 years at a minimum. Currently between 20 and 25% of tenants’ homes have not had an electrical-safety check within the last 10 years.
One reason for this is that it can be difficult to gain access to properties to complete these checks.
To address this, we are now combining electrical-safety checks with annual gas-safety checks to make this more convenient for tenants. (We are 100% compliant with the requirement to complete gas-safety checks on an annual basis.)
Asbestos surveys
All communal areas in council properties should have had an asbestos survey completed. Some surveys are still outstanding, but we are working to ensure these are completed soon.
You can read more about asbestos in council homes, including what to do if you suspect asbestos has been damaged in your home. It also explains why it’s important to get permission from us before doing any work in your home.
Asbestos was a commonly used building material used from the 1950s. It is around us much of the time, and is harmless if undisturbed. However, using asbestos in new buildings was banned in 1999. There is no requirement to complete asbestos surveys in buildings built from 2000 onwards.
Tasks identified as part of fire-risk assessments
We are required to complete a fire-risk assessment for any council homes that have communal areas. The assessments identify any risks and set out any actions that need to be taken to reduce and manage fire risk.
We have completed 100% of these fire-risk assessments. We have a log of actions to work through to ensure we are reducing and managing any risks the assessments identified.
These actions range from ensuring that fire exits remain clear or that fire alarms have been tested, to maintaining our buildings to high standards.
This can present more of a challenge in some of our older properties. We are currently working to reduce and manage risks in a small number of our older blocks of flats.
All tenants can help reduce fire risks by keeping exits clear and making sure fire doors are closed. Information from the fire service, below, gives more information about the part you can play to keep yourself safe.
Next steps
You do not need to contact us. We are working as quickly as possible to complete any outstanding work. We will contact you if we need to access your home as part of our compliance work programme.
If we are scheduled to visit you and you need to cancel or rebook, please call us to let us know as soon as possible.
If you are particularly concerned and would like to find out the status of any outstanding checks or tasks related to your home, please complete our form.
You can read more about our housing compliance in a recent report published ahead of our upcoming Housing Scrutiny Committee meeting
We have referred ourselves to the regulator of social housing, as a result of our work to proactively identify these issues. It is important that we self-refer in this way so that we can seek guidance from the regulator about our plans to resolve these issues, mitigate any risks to tenants, and ensure tenants’ safety.
Useful safety information
- Asbestos in council homes
- Fire safety in council homes
- Council home repairs
- Making alterations to your council house
- Home fire safety (Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service)
- Electrical safety (Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service)
- E-bikes and e-scooters (Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service)
- Water hygiene guide [PDF, 88Kb]
