The Housing Scrutiny Commission met to discuss district heating, the Good Landlord Plan, and the commission's work programme for the coming year. The commission reviewed the preparedness of the council's district heating systems for winter, and discussed ways to address overly warm homes. Members also received an update on the Good Landlord Plan, which aims to improve housing services in the borough, and agreed to the commission's work programme for 2025-26.

Good Landlord Plan Update

The commission received an update on the Good Landlord Plan (GLP) from Hakeem Osinaike, Strategic Director of Housing. The GLP is Southwark's response to a C3 judgement from the Regulator of Social Housing¹ (RSH) and is designed to ensure compliance with housing consumer standards and the Southwark 2030 strategy goal of Decent Homes for All .

The GLP is based on six themes:

• Better Homes
• Better Estates
• Better Repairs
• Better Customer Service
• A Stronger Voice for Tenants
• New Council Homes

The report noted progress in several areas, including:

• Better Homes: Domestic electrical condition tests have increased from 24.7% to 48.6%, communal electrical condition tests have increased from 66.9% to 89.93%, and the percentage of compliant smoke alarms has increased from 7.0% to 33.2%.
• Better Estates: Estate surgeries have been launched across all areas to enhance resident engagement. A new procedure for responding to anti-social behaviour (ASB) has been agreed.
• Better Repairs: Improvements to the online repair solution have started, including changes to the way damp and mould is reported. The Plentific Marketplace system went live on 10 November.
• Better Customer Service: The complaints improvement work has resulted in a reduced backlog of stage one complaints. Leaseholders can now access an itemised breakdown of their service charges online.
• A Stronger Voice for Residents: A new resident engagement strategy has been finalised and is ready for cabinet approval.
• New Homes: 34 new homes have been completed, 676 are on site, and 14 modular homes are in pre-planning, totalling 724 starts.

The report also identified areas of focus for the coming months, including achieving compliance in areas of failure, implementing the new ASB procedure, and launching the resident engagement strategy.

Review of District Heating and Related Issues

The commission received a report on the review of district heating and related issues. The report covered the preparedness of systems for the upcoming colder seasons, the potential to lower temperatures of properties which are too warm, the council's compliance with new and upcoming Ofgem² regulations regarding district heating, and an implementation update against the actions identified in December 2024.

The council operates both old and new heat networks, connecting over 17,000 homes. While most operate reliably, some face significant issues due to age. The council has invested approximately £1 million in summer improvement works, including replacing worn components, heating pumps, and adding isolation valves.

The council has also begun piloting the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) alarm systems at the Aylesbury and North Peckham boiler houses.

The report acknowledged that some estates suffer from overheating problems due to higher network temperatures, lack of controls, and outdated network design. The Engineering Services team has been working with the Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) and ward councillors on the Consort Estate, identifying properties with overheating problems and carrying out surveys to identify likely causes.

The report also addressed the council's compliance with new and upcoming Ofgem regulations regarding district heating. The Energy Act 2023 paved the way for the Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025, which shift heat networks from being unregulated to regulated, empowering Ofgem as the official regulator.

The council is working to improve heat network asset data, roll out bulk and residential heat meters, register with the Energy Ombudsman, and register all heat networks with Ofgem by January 2027.

An update regarding implementation of the actions identified in the cabinet's December 2024 report titled Response to the report of the Housing, Community Safety & Community Engagement Scrutiny Commission - review of heating and hot water outages can be found in Appendix 1 of the Review of District Heating and Related Issues report.

Work Programme 2025-2026

The commission agreed its work programme for the 2025-26 municipal year, as detailed in the Housing Scrutiny Commission Work Programme 2025-2026 Covering Report. The commission will consider items including:

• A review of social landlord communications with residents and partners, and social landlord performance in relation to response times for repairs and damp and mould.
• An update on the council's work to implement the recommendations from reviews of the Canada Estate, Fair Street / Devon Mansions and Kirby Estate.
• Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) – scope the state of knowledge about them and their performance; explore their structures, financing, and accountability to residents and the council, as well as broader ways they work; review how the council supports TMOs; hear from residents about their experiences with TMOs.