22.4% of Rugby's council homes are recorded as failing the Decent Homes Standard, up from 1.6%. The council blames its data and has called in reviewers.
More than one in five of Rugby Borough Council’s homes are now recorded as failing the Decent Homes Standard. A year ago the figure was 1.6%. At 31 March 2026 it was 22.4%.
The council says the homes did not suddenly get worse. It says the jump is “likely to be linked to improvements in housing records and data quality”, and it has paid for an independent review of the number.
The figure is in the annual Tenant Satisfaction Measures report that went to Cabinet on Tuesday 6 October (agenda item 8). Every social landlord in England has to publish these measures for the Regulator of Social Housing.
Why the council says the number jumped
The report says the 22.4% “should therefore be treated as provisional while the Council verifies the data”. It gives this explanation:
Initial discussions with HQN indicate that some homes may have been assessed too cautiously or recorded as non-decent where the supporting information was incomplete.
HQN is a housing consultancy. The council has commissioned it to test the survey evidence and the calculation method, including how missing information is treated. A new housing records system, which the report calls the Single Asset Management System, is due to go live this autumn.
Until that review reports, no one outside the council can say how many homes genuinely fall short. The report does not say how many homes the 22.4% represents, or which estates.
The good news in the same report
Tenants’ views improved on every satisfaction measure the council could compare. Overall satisfaction rose from 76% to 84.9%. The council’s press release called that a rise of “nine per cent”; strictly, it is 8.9 percentage points.
Repairs also got faster:
- emergency repairs done within target: 58.6% to 77%
- other repairs done within target: 61% to 76.1%
- satisfaction with the repairs service: 83.7% to 86.4%
Fire risk assessments and asbestos surveys were at 100%. Gas safety checks were done in 98.5% of homes, up from 98.2%.
Where tenants are still unhappy
Complaints handling is the lowest score in the survey. Fewer than half of tenants who complained, 47.6%, were satisfied with how it was handled. Satisfaction with anti-social behaviour handling was 55.6%.
Complaints themselves went up. Stage one complaints rose from 29 to 45.4 per 1,000 homes. The report puts part of that down to staff now logging dissatisfaction as a complaint earlier. Anti-social behaviour cases rose from 43.6 to 50.1 per 1,000 homes. Two specialist anti-social behaviour officers are being appointed this year.
Two safety checks slipped at the year end. Legionella risk assessments fell to 95.5% and communal lift checks to 90.9%. The council has 22 sites needing legionella monitoring and 11 communal lifts, so one or two late inspections move the percentage a lot. The report says both were back at 100% by May 2026.
Two things to read with care
This year’s figures are weighted and last year’s were not. Tenants in Independent Living schemes answer the survey more often than other tenants. At the regulator’s request, the council weighted the 2025/26 results so each group counts in proportion to its share of tenants. That makes the year-on-year comparison less than exact. About 30% of tenants replied, the same rate as the two years before.
One repairs figure in the report does not exist. The main report says satisfaction with the time taken to complete a repair rose “from 79.1% to 85.9%”. The appendix to the same report says no such figure was collected in 2025/26. A survey error printed the overall repairs question twice and left the timing question out. The 85.9% is not in the appendix table, and the report does not say where it came from.
What it means for you
- If you are a council tenant and think your home has a serious defect, report it as a repair first. If that does not work, use the council’s complaints process. You can go to the Housing Ombudsman once that process is finished.
- The Decent Homes figure will be revised. HQN’s review should say how many homes really fail. We will report it when the council publishes it.
- How Rugby compares: the regulator publishes results for every landlord in England later this year. That will show whether 84.9% is good or ordinary.
Cllr Claire Edwards, portfolio holder for communities, housing and safety, said in the council’s release: “Satisfaction with complaints handling is still too low.”
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