Gateshead council housing 'moving in right direction' after concern repairs and complaints backlog
Council chiefs in Gateshead say they are “moving in the right direction” after being told to make improvements by the housing regulator.
A report from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) earlier this year highlighted shortcomings in council house repairs and a backlog of complaints at Gateshead Council.
But councillors were told this week that significant progress had been made in some key areas, following the 13 areas of weakness that were identified by the watchdog.
Members of the council’s housing, environment and healthy communities overview and scrutiny committee heard on Monday how the number of council house repairs being completed on schedule had significantly increased.
At the end of the second quarter of 2025/26, the council said that 17.4% of requested repairs were ‘out of time’ – a marked improvement from 50% 12 months earlier.
Housing bosses added that more than £1 million had been spent on proactive work to deal with damp and mould concerns.
Martin Poulter, the council’s business performance and customer services manager, admitted that tenant satisfaction with the council’s handling of complaints had been “one of the worst on record” – sitting at just 18% in 2024/25. But that has since improved to 35%, following the introduction of a dedicated complaints team.
Mr Poulter added: “We accept that there is still lots of work to do. We are not being complacent. But it is good to see we are moving in the right direction.”
As part of an action plan to address the housing regulator’s concerns, council risk and assurance officer Stuart Gibson said the authority was on course to complete all condition surveys of its housing stock by the end of December.
A target of March 2027 has been set to have all 18,000 of Gateshead’s council homes meeting the Decent Homes standard, with 97.3% currently meeting that criteria.
However Mr Gibson said that the time being taken to repair empty properties “needs to reduce further” and is the “area of most concern” – with the council seeking to bring more maintenance work in-house to speed up renovations.
It currently takes the council an average of three months to relet a void property.#
The RSH awarded Gateshead Council a C2 rating, concluding that there were “some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed”.
Addressing the improved performance on repairs, a Gateshead Council spokesperson, said: “We’re really pleased to see continued improvements in our housing repairs service – it’s a reflection of the hard work and investment that’s gone into making things better for tenants.
“Over the past year we’ve worked closely with tenants to agree a new Repairs Policy, brought more jobs in-house – like roofing, fencing, garden clearance and damp and mould work – to speed things up, and created new teams focused on supporting tenants and tackling damp and mould issues. We’ve also started work to prevent damp and mould in empty homes before new tenants move in.
“Over the next year, we’ll keep looking at how to improve value for money and service quality. That includes testing smart home technology that can spot and fix problems remotely, working with tenants to improve how repairs are scheduled, and making our teams more efficient by reviewing the stock carried on vans.
“Our focus is on continuing to make improvements that deliver a faster, more reliable service for tenants.”