According to the Government, this means there are serious failings in a social housing landlord’s delivery of national consumer standards, and significant improvement is needed.

The judgement handed to Kingston says the Council lacks accurate, up-to-date information about the condition of most of its homes.

It’s also revealed that only 15% had been surveyed under its new programme at the time of inspection, with completion expected within the next 18 months.

The inspection also found only 62% of stage one complaints and 74% of stage two complaints received responses within the required timescales.

Councillor Emily Davey, Kingston Council’s Portfolio Holder for Housing said:

“I am pleased that the Regulator is assured we are delivering good quality services for our residents across many areas of the inspection, whilst aIso recognising further improvements are needed.

“The C3 rating received by the council relates solely to one element of the safety and quality standard. The regulator highlighted that we don’t yet have accurate, up-to-date evidence of the condition of enough of our homes.

“We recognise the seriousness of this and work is already underway to address this gap. A full survey programme to improve our understanding of the condition of all our council homes is now 24% complete and will be fully completed within the next 18 months. Whilst we accept that our survey programme is not sufficiently progressed, there is no suggestion that tenant’s homes are unsafe. The regulator highlighted our excellent track record on emergency repairs and health and safety with electrical, fire and gas safety records all up to date and no priority works outstanding

“Inspectors also praised our partnership work tackling anti-social behaviour, and the way tenants are treated with fairness and respect. They reported on seeing clear evidence of good resident engagement and how feedback from tenants has directly shaped improvements in the service.

“We remain committed to listening to our residents and working with them to improve their homes and neighbourhoods.”