Tenant safety has to be top of your organisation's agenda. Why? Because above everything else, you are responsible for ensuring that your people are safe within their homes at all times. However, managing and ensuring this is no mean feat, especially given the increased regulatory scrutiny that registered providers are facing. It is therefore crucial that your property compliance matters, particularly around the big five areas of compliance (asbestos, gas, water, electricity and fire) are up-to-date and in the best positon possible, to prevent you from facing financial or legal fines.
In our experience whilst some organisations are in a strong compliance position, most are not, leaving them exposed to penalties and reduced levels of tenant safety.
You have to be in full control of your asbestos, gas, fire, electric and water policies, procedures and methods in order to meet your legal statutory obligations. Failure to do so will result in legal penalties and charges being brought onto you and your organisation.
However, you also need to be aware that simply meeting the basic statutory requirements for each of these areas is not always enough, as tenant safety cannot be guaranteed if that is all that you are doing.
For instance, when looking at fire safety, in order to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, housing providers must risk assess their communal areas and complete all mandatory actions. But the legislation does not specify the type of risk assessment that should be carried out or who it should be carried out by – you therefore have to take the initiative and select the correct options for both, depending on your organisation's circumstances.
To keep people and their family’s safe within their own homes – this is the goal and what you have to strive to achieve by making sure that you are going above and beyond in each area of compliance.
However, if this is becoming a challenge then you need to look at ‘why’, and how you can act upon this so that changes can be made quickly and effectively.
Achieving and maintaining compliance does not have to be a complex and onerous task, it can be delivered if organisations have the right strategic approach in place that it is then driven forward by senior leaders and members of the board within the business.
The first and often most difficult step in achieving this is understanding where to begin, and what you need to be aware of. Without this insight, it is impossible for leaders to challenge and drive improvement.
To assist you in this process, our expert consultants have created a comprehensive guide to help you achieve effective property compliance. The guide will provide you with the knowledge about the most common compliance pitfalls that organisations are falling into, detailing how you can not only avoid them but also implement change through nine building blocks of effective compliance management.
If you would like to download the FREE guide, click here .
Alternatively, if you would like to discuss your compliance position further with our Head of Consultancy, Sarah Davies, you can do so either by email, or by calling 0800 883 0334.