Both Vivid and Raven Housing Trust breached the Home Standard, but both associations have kept their top governance.
In 2015 Raven Housing Trust found out that electrical safety checks had not been completed on a number of its properties, some of which were overdue for several years, but failed to inform the regulator at the time. The regulator said the overdue work that had not been completed was considered to be “potentially dangerous” and required “urgent remedial action”.
Raven recently reported the electrical safety issue to the regulator alongside a second issue it had uncovered relating to water safety. Many homes were not subject to water testing to check for signs of Legionella in water tanks due to a new contract procurement. The regulator issued a regulatory notice because it requires housing associations to have adequate risk assessments in place.
Vivid: During the merger of First Wessex and Sentinel Housing Association the organisation reported to the regulator that a “low number” of homes had been found without valid gas safety certificates. Most of these properties had been without certificates for a “considerable period of time” and some for a number of years.
The outstanding gas safety checks have now been completed and Vivid carried out a review which found inaccurate data about the presence of gas appliances in some of its properties. It has developed an action plan to stop this happening in the future.