Almost half of housing stock has received vital checks

ALMOST half Nottingham City Council's homes have now had vital checks as the authority tries to improve its poorly rated housing services.

- By JOE LOCKER Local democracy reporter

The council began a condition survey on all of its 26,000 properties last summer, shortly before the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) gave the authority the second-lowest possible rating.

The last full check was done more than eight years ago, when the arm's-length management organisation, Nottingham City Homes (NCH), was in charge of the city's social housing.

However it is now directly managed by the authority, after NCH was wound up because of the revelation that millions of pounds in rent payers' money from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was unlawfully diverted to prop up other services.