The Housing Scrutiny Panel met to discuss housing performance, the private rented sector, and to monitor progress on previous scrutiny recommendations. The panel was scheduled to review operational performance across the Housing Department, and to discuss progress on prior recommendations regarding the private rented sector.

Housing Performance Update

The Director of Housing, Jamie Brenchley, was scheduled to present a report providing an update on operational performance across the Housing Department.

The report included a presentation providing an overview of the performance of Housing Services. It noted that there had been reductions in service backlogs for voids¹ and that plans were in place to clear backlogs for voids and repairs by the end of March 2026. It stated that customer experience had improved through reduced waiting times for calls, faster processing of emails, and improvements to the accessibility of the Housing website, with customer satisfaction at the service centre's service quality at 92% in July 2025.

The report stated that efforts had been made to improve complaints and tenant engagement performance, combining the introduction of new software with improvements based on customer insight and lessons learned. It also noted improvements to key safety and compliance performance through effective use of improvement plans and improved joint working with colleagues from the Estates and Asset team and other council departments.

According to the report, decent homes figures had stabilised with work underway to improve performance.

It was noted that the number of voids had fallen from 340 in May 2025 to 281 properties in July 2025, and that this downward trend should accelerate further from September due to a new voids and repairs contractor starting. A new electrical inspection process for voids was introduced in July which was expected to speed things up.

The report stated that outstanding repairs had remained largely constant, with more jobs completed in the last month compared to previous months, but that this had been offset by an increased demand on the repairs service.

The report stated that Southampton City Council was currently the lowest performing local authority in England for decent homes standards, with 48% of homes not meeting the standard. It noted that mitigation measures were put in place in 2024/25 to stabilise the position and allow time to develop a more comprehensive plan to address the level of non-decent homes.

The report stated that since the formation of a dedicated Compliance Team, compliance levels overall have improved, and more robust data is being used to monitor performance. It noted that Southampton City Council has two areas that require additional focus: fire safety remediation actions and asbestos.

The report stated that the service centre had continued to improve overall call answering times from the 11 minutes in May 2025 to 9 ½ minutes in July 2025.

The report stated that work has been undertaken by the Southampton City Council Debt Recovery team to understand debtors better, identify areas for improvement in policies, processes and procedure, share and implement best practice, reorganise teams to respond more quickly to debt issues and improve joint working between income and tenancy management teams. It noted that outstanding debt had been reduced from c.£12M to c.£8M, reducing debt as a proportion of rent roll to 10%.

Private Rented Sector Housing

Councillor Dave Shields, Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Panel, was scheduled to present a report recommending that the Panel discuss with the Cabinet Member for Housing and invited officers progress implementing the agreed recommendations from the scrutiny inquiry and further opportunities to improve outcomes in Southampton's private rented sector.

The report included the Cabinet response to the 2023/24 Scrutiny Inquiry into the private rented sector and preliminary, formative findings from a related review looking at overcoming barriers to proactive enforcement of the private rented sector.

The report noted that in 2023/24 the Scrutiny Inquiry Panel undertook an inquiry looking at the private rented sector in Southampton - How do we get a better deal for private sector renters in Southampton?. The report included 10 recommendations that, if implemented, the Panel believed would secure a better deal for private sector renters in Southampton.

The report stated that in November 2024, Cabinet approved their response to the recommendations within the inquiry report.

The report noted that a key recommendation from the Inquiry was to identify opportunities to utilise the full range of informal and formal enforcement powers available to the council. In response to the recommendation, research on the barriers to proactive enforcement and how they can be overcome was carried out through a six-month ESRC-funded² secondment by Dr Mark Jordan, a housing law researcher at the University of Southampton, with support from Professor Helen Carr. The report stated that the draft Southampton City Council Housing Strategy 2026-2031, includes clear objectives related to maximising the private rented offer in Southampton.

Appendix 1 contained the Cabinet's response to the Private Rented Sector Scrutiny Inquiry. It noted that to improve the affordability of private rented housing in Southampton, the final version of Southampton City Vision Local Plan retains the ambitious housing delivery figures for the city, maintains an ambitious policy position for the delivery of affordable housing through major planning applications, and that the council commits to facilitating the delivery of 8,000 affordable homes by 2040. It also stated that partners should develop and update a database of market rent levels in Southampton to support the work of the Valuation Office.

The report stated that to improve the security and stability of tenants in private rented housing in Southampton, Southampton City Council should develop and embed a range of creative solutions, including the Call B4 You Serve initiative, to work with landlords and tenants in the private rented sector, at the earliest opportunity, to prevent homelessness.

The report stated that to help target enforcement action and facilitate the future use of available enforcement tools, a private sector housing conditions survey should be commissioned. It also stated that using examples of best practice, the information, advice and guidance provided to landlords and tenants should be improved, and landlord forums and other opportunities to build relationships with stakeholders should be utilised.

The report recommended that the current approach to voluntary landlord accreditation in the city should be reviewed with a view to developing a citywide scheme akin to the Leeds Rental Standard or the Good Landlord Charter.

The report stated that the new operating and enforcement guidance for local authorities to be published by Government should be reviewed and opportunities to utilise the full range of informal and formal enforcement powers available to the council should be identified. It noted that the use of Civil Penalty Notices, designating a new HMO³ additional licensing scheme, and a selective licensing scheme in the city should be considered as part of the review. The report recommended that economic activity modelling should be undertaken to identify the additional resources required to deliver a comprehensive proactive and responsive regulatory approach to enforcement of the private rented sector in Southampton, and that a Private Rented Sector Strategy should be developed for the city that articulates Southampton City Council's strategic vision, standards and approach to intervening in Southampton's private rented sector.

Monitoring Scrutiny Recommendations

The Scrutiny Manager was scheduled to present a report enabling the Housing Scrutiny Panel to monitor and track progress on recommendations made to the Executive at previous meetings.

The report included a table setting out the recommendations made at previous meetings of the Housing Scrutiny Panel, and a summary of action taken in response to the recommendations.