Housing stock survey

The council has now completed its updated housing stock condition survey.

The full report gives an updated picture of the town's housing stock in the private rented sector, and draws comparisons with owner occupied properties and housing associations. The survey was carried out by Opinion Research Services (ORS) and covers areas such as the standards and condition of housing in the area, the energy efficiency of housing stock, the need for adapted housing and property and rental prices.

The council has a statutory duty to keep the conditions of housing in the borough under review. This is usually done through a stock condition review. The latest review in Hastings was carried out in 2022/23.

Officers are now going through the report to prioritise areas of work for the coming months, to continue working to meet our aim that all residents live in a decent home.

Cllr Simon Willis, lead councillor for housing, said: "This report is a crucial document as it gives the council the facts and figures to use to update and revise many of our housing policies and strategies. It will also help us prioritise inspections so we can target these to the areas where they are most needed. The results show that housing conditions in Hastings look to be improving, but there remains much more to do. We would still encourage anyone who has concerns about their living conditions to raise issues with their landlord, and if they are not resolved satisfactorily to come to us for help and support."

Key findings from the report include:

• Around 7% of housing stock is estimated to have a category 1 hazard, deemed to be the most serious hazard (around 3,100 homes, with 1,200 experiencing excess cold).
• Heating in around 15% of homes in the private rented sector is either poor or very poor.
• Government figures show that around 13% of households are living in fuel poverty, up to 20% in Castle, Central St Leonards and Gensing.
• Around 469 households (across all tenures) with a long term illness or disability in Hastings need to move to a more suitable home (Census 2021);
• Between 2016 and 2023, 2270 complaints were made to the Council Housing Renewal Team regarding concerns about their property. Over half were specifically related to disrepair.
• Around 2% of properties in the town are holiday lets.

You can find the full report online.

If you have concerns about disrepair in your property which are not being resolved by your landlord when you have raised it with them, you can contact the Housing Renewal Team.

If you are a landlord or managing agent that would like advice about property disrepair and your responsibilities please contact the Housing Renewal Team.

If you have a complaint about a housing association then you can contact the Housing Ombudsman. They also have the remit to deal with a range of issues regarding customer service and complaints handling and well as issues not related to disrepair.

If you are a leaseholder you can get advice at The Leasehold Advisory Service.

Editor's notes:
The government's Housing health and safety rating system includes 29 hazards. After properties are assessed against these criteria, it is decided if they are a category 1 or category 2 hazard.