regulations

The Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 marks a significant turning point for the social housing sector, ushering in a new era of resident empowerment and a resolute commitment to delivering safe, secure, and sustainable homes. 

Fire doors are an integral part of your building’s fire safety. They can stop the spread of smoke and fire, but they can only do this if they are compliant and inspected regularly. Now that the new fire safety regulations have come into effect, it’s more important than ever to keep up to date with fire door inspections, with quarterly and yearly checks.

Fire door inspections involve checking every element of the doorset, from the door itself to the hardware. Every part of your fire door could have an impact on effectiveness and compliance, meaning inspection reports need to be thorough and comprehensive.

The benefits of an organisation-wide training programme are too big to ignore. It’s an investment in your staff, your organisation and most importantly of course, your tenants. The true cost of choosing not to upskill staff could ultimately be loss of life, as well as loss of reputation, downgrading by the Regulator and the financial cost in terms of legal fees, fines and compensation.

In 2020 a new problem significantly exacerbated the age-old problem of access to residents’ homes to perform gas safety checks and repairs and maintenance, namely the global Coronavirus pandemic. However, in addition to this there is another way in which social landlords can also be inadvertently skating on thin ice when attempting to stay on the right side of the regulations.

Central to all gas safety regimes is accessing residents’ homes – this is a perpetual problem for all social landlords. It is a time-consuming, costly annual process yet essential for resident’s safety and a regulatory requirement as per the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

Just one year since The Association of Gas Safety Managers (AGSM), part of the ASCP Group - along with campaign partners CORGI Technical Services - celebrated a landmark victory in bringing a long-awaited change to regulation 36a into force, the introduction of MOT-style gas servicing has had a significant positive impact on landlords, with one council saving over £150,000 this year alone.
Under the new scheme – the result of five years’ tireless campaigning by the ASCP and its partners – LGSRs can be completed up to two months before the anniversary of the previous check, whilst retaining the existing expiry date.  

The Asbestos Removal Contractors Association advises housing providers on the legalities of dealing with asbestos…

What are your legal duties?

It is vital that owners and managers of properties, constructed prior to the year 2000, take the risks from asbestos seriously and deal with asbestos in a controlled and safe manner. Today it is still the greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, with currently approx. 5,000 asbestos-related cancer deaths per year.