Council papers show 29.9% of Islington's council homes surveyed by mid-July and the contractor behind schedule, before Tuesday night's scrutiny meeting on the C3 judgement.
The firm surveying Islington’s 25,892 council homes is behind schedule, on the one job the housing regulator has told the council to get right. That is in the council’s own papers, published for a scrutiny meeting on Tuesday night.
The Housing Improvement Plan going to the Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee says, of the surveying firm Ridge and Partners: “Ridge are currently behind in the delivery of their accelerated plan. They have been asked to provide assurance of their resources to deliver the planned acceleration and backlog of surveys.” (Islington Council, Housing Improvement Plan, Appendix 2)
Why the surveys matter
The Regulator of Social Housing gave Islington a C3 consumer grade on 13 May 2026, its first. C3 means “there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed”.
The core finding was that the council does not know the condition of its own housing. The regulator’s judgement records that most Islington council homes have a survey more than ten years old, with no formal Housing Health and Safety Rating System assessment, and concludes: “we do not have assurance that LB Islington’s homes meet the Decent Homes Standard.” Around 13% of homes had been surveyed under the new programme when inspectors visited. (Regulator of Social Housing, regulatory judgement, 13 May 2026)
Catching up on that backlog is the whole point of the accelerated survey programme. The plan records what has actually been done:
- 21% of surveys complete at the end of April 2026
- 7,731 internal surveys complete by the end of June 2026
- 29.9% complete in mid-July 2026
- 17 surveyors on site since May 2026
The targets for the rest of this year are 40% by the end of the second quarter, 53% by the third and 66% by the fourth, rising to 80% by the second quarter of 2027/28. The action carries a due date of 6 September 2027 and an amber rating.
More than 1,000 overdue lift actions
The second area the regulator singled out is health and safety data. Its judgement says the council reported only one non-compliant communal lift during the inspection, but “over 1,000 overdue lift remedial actions, with up to 500 overdue for longer than a year”. The council told inspectors these were not safety critical and did not require lifts to be closed.
Recent internal audits gave only limited assurance on compliance information for lifts, asbestos and fire safety. The regulator calls the weakness in the accuracy of that data a serious failing in its own right.
The improvement plan sets a target of clearing all outstanding lift remedial works and orders by the end of December 2026, with a new lift contractor procured and replacement contracts in place by October 2027. Separately, the council says £25m to £30m is earmarked for lift works between 2026 and 2031. (Islington Council, draft Housing Improvement Plan report)
The council’s own update reads more positively
A second, shorter report on the same agenda describes itself as “a positive and evidence-led summary” and says the regulator was “very complementary of the progress made” at a monthly meeting on 31 July 2026, “with the two key areas to focus on being the Stock Condition Survey and the Health and Safety work, with all other areas progressing in advance of expectations”. The council says it fully accepts the C3 grading and is aiming for a C1 judgement within twelve months. (Islington Council, Housing Improvement Programme update report)
Both statements are in the same agenda pack, and both are true. The two areas the regulator is still watching are the two the council is behind on.
The judgement was not all critical. Inspectors found Islington allocates and lets homes fairly, has an anti-social behaviour policy with effective oversight, and treats tenants with fairness and respect. They recorded that in 2024/25 the council completed 95% of emergency repairs and 76% of non-emergency repairs within target. The regulator says it is “not proposing to use our enforcement powers at this stage”.
What it means for you
Islington is the second largest council landlord in London and the tenth largest in the country, with 25,892 tenanted homes, 9,679 leaseholders and 734 service charge paying freeholders. If you rent or lease from the council, this is your landlord’s regulator.
A surveyor will come to every tenanted property under this programme, inside and out. The plan is explicit that the council is working with Ridge on reducing “no access” refusals, so expect letters and repeat visits. The survey is how a home gets recorded as non-decent, and how repair and improvement money is then allocated to it.
Tuesday’s meeting is at 7.30pm on 1 September in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD, and is webcast. Public questions are item A6, near the start. Also on the agenda are a report on rent arrears for 2025-26, the council’s approach to tenancy fraud, and a report on downsizing. (Islington Council, agenda, Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee, 1 September 2026)
One caveat worth knowing if you are chasing something. Around 3,000 Islington homes are managed by 23 Tenant Management Organisations, and a further 2,272 by a private finance initiative contract with Partners for Improvement in Islington. The regulator found the council “could do more to assure itself that its complaints process is accessible to tenants in properties managed by Tenant Management Organisations”.
If you are dealing with the council on something else, our Islington planning news page tracks applications in the borough.
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