Published: Wednesday 27 August 2025
The Regulator for Social Housing has completed its inspection of our housing management service and has given the Council a C3 rating. The grade relates to how we are delivering the outcomes for residents that are expected in the consumer standards for social housing.
A C3 grade means there are some parts of the service that need to be improved. We already meet 18 out of the 20 required outcomes for residents. The two areas where we need to improve are; the number of our homes that meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standards (DHS) and our knowledge of the homes we manage by completing a stock condition survey. Work is well underway to address both of these points.
We are meeting all the safety related standards, and providing safe homes for residents remains our number one priority.
The Regulator’s report said:
“The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea demonstrated that outcomes across all main areas of health and safety compliance, including gas, fire, electric, water, asbestos, lifts, and smoke and carbon monoxide detection were good. Kensington and Chelsea has provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas and that performance is monitored, including by councillors and tenants.”
The Decent Homes Standards requirements for social housing include health and safety compliance, modern facilities and services, being in a good state of repair, and providing insulation and thermal comfort. At the moment about 30 per cent of the homes we manage don’t meet all of the Decent Homes Standards. This represents about 2,000 of the roughly 7,000 tenanted homes. Most of these are comprised of homes where either the kitchen, bathroom or windows are outdated.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, said:
“Since the Grenfell tragedy this Council has changed and continues to change. Our adults’ and children’s social care departments were both recently rated outstanding and we intend to deliver the same results in housing. We know we have work to do, and we have a plan to get there.
“In housing, we have prioritised safety works and it is reassuring that the housing regulator’s report recognises that we are meeting all the safety standards.
“We need to better understand the condition of all our housing and bring all our residents’ homes up to the housing regulator’s standard for decent homes, with things like improved kitchens and bathrooms. We expect to have surveyed the condition of all our housing stock next year, and we will be 100 per cent compliant in the decent homes standard by 2030.
“The report acknowledges that we are meeting 18 of the 20 required outcomes and I personally am very pleased to see positive feedback on how we engage and consult with our residents, how our repairs service works without a backlog and how we are improving neighbourhoods and tackling anti-social behaviour with our partners.
“I want to thank our residents for their continued patience and valued input as we work towards being the best Council for our communities.”
How are we planning to meet the consumer standards for social housing?
We are undertaking a stock condition survey of all our homes to be completed in 2026. From that point on we will refresh the survey by inspecting 20 per cent of our homes each year to make sure we’re always compliant with the standards in future.
A stock condition survey is a visual inspection of a property carried out by a surveyor. It aims to gather information about the state of a home, paying particular attention to repairs, wear and tear, quality of fittings, and the fabric of the building. The standards say that ideally a landlord should have carried out a survey in every home within the last five years. We’ve currently got recent survey results for around 40 per cent of our homes.
What’s the plan to meet the decent homes standards?
Since the Grenfell tragedy, we have worked with residents to decide priorities for investment and agreed to put safety works first. We knew this would mean it would take longer to meet the Decent Homes Standard but safety was and continues to be our top priority.
To meet the decent homes standard we have already invested more than £200 million in the modernisation of our homes and have committed substantial further funding over the next five years. This includes large scale work across estates to improve insulation and thermal comfort, as well as a programme to renew and modernise kitchens and bathrooms.
What areas are going well?
The Regulator praised our repairs service, that operates without a backlog and notes our antisocial behaviour service that works with partners.
The Regulator saw the passion, compassion and dedication in our teams and how we treated tenants with fairness and respect. In particular, they highlighted how we engage with and bring residents into our decision-making. They praised the work and support we provide around tenancy sustainment which helps to prevent tenants from losing their homes as well as our visiting officer schemes. Our visiting officers help tenants ensure their homes are safe and offer help if needed.
You can read the full report on the Regulator of Social Housing’s website.