Council homes in Newark generally meet the standards required by a regulator, a new inspection report says.
The Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) has been inspecting all social housing landlords, including councils, and dozens have been given poor ratings due to serious failings.
Both Nottingham and Broxtowe were slapped with the second-worst rating possible, before the city’s grade was upgraded in June.
The regulator visited Newark and Sherwood District Council in July, and has given it a C2 rating, meaning it is delivering the outcomes of consumer standards with some weaknesses.
An inspection report says the council has a “respectful, fair, and positive culture towards tenants”, and that complaints are addressed effectively, there is good work to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour, and information on tenants is up to date.
“It has been really positive and welcome news, extraordinarily proud,” Cllr Lee Brazier (Lab), the authority’s portfolio holder for housing said.
“It shows the dedication of the teams at Newark and Sherwood District Council and their commitment to making our tenants’ lives the best possible.
“It has only been achieved through teams working together, listening to tenants’ voices, by learning from things that have gone wrong in the past and from building on everything the council has had as fundamental standing for a long time.”
Newark and Sherwood currently manages around 5,500 council homes.
Some weaknesses in their management have been highlighted in a report published on Wednesday (July 29).
The regulator says the authority does not currently have complete and up-to-date information on the quality of all its homes, including any potential hazards.
While it has surveyed a high proportion of its homes within the last five years, not all its homes have had an assessment of hazards.
As of April 2026, nine per cent of council homes did not meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard, but it anticipates this figure will reduce as it completes its remaining surveys.
The regulator added that the council is on track to complete the outstanding surveys of its homes by August 2026.
A lack of third-party oversight of its health and safety compliance was also found to be a weakness, as well as the quality of repairs information and monitoring and assurance of damp and mould cases.
Damp and mould cases must now be urgently addressed after the introduction of Awaab’s Law in October last year.
Changes were made following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) home.
Newark has invested more than £250,000 to tackle mould and disrepair problems across its housing stock, following a 500 per cent increase in reports of damp and mould in council homes across the district, and a 670 per cent increase in disrepair reports.
“The teams are working through all of that work and have been before Awaab’s Law came into place,” Cllr Brazier added.
“We were well-prepared as a council through work that had already started to happen.
“At the end of the day these are people’s lives, it is something we take really seriously because we want what is best for our tenants.
By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
