Medway Council’s social housing has been praised after it was scrutinised in the first scheduled government inspection in the south east.

The Towns’ authority is the first in the region to undergo a routine examination of its social housing service after new tests were brought in looking at tenant satisfaction.

The scale ranges from C1, where the provider is meeting the expected standards for housing, to C4, which means fundamental changes are needed.

Medway Council was rated C2, the second highest rating possible, which means the authority performed well in some areas but also has aspects it needs to improve.

It was rated on the safety and quality of housing, the standard of tenancies and how effective they were for tenants and how efficient they use the council’s properties.

The tests also evaluated how transparent and open to the views of tenants the council is, and how effectively the authority deals with neighbourhood issues, such as anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, and the safety of communal spaces.

Medway Council owns and manages around 3,000 social homes, a mix of sizes from studio flats to four-bedroom homes.

The inspection was conducted by the government’s regulator for social housing and praised the authority’s fixing of repairs in a timely manner, using its housing stock effectively, and recognising areas for improvement and having a plan in place to fix them.

The regulator also commended the authority’s proactivity in checking and dealing with mould and damp in its properties along with how it engaged with residents about neighbourhood issues.

It did raise issues around the council’s records for its properties, as it found 45% were out of date, and 8% of properties - approximately 279 homes - did not meet the decent homes standard (DHS).

However, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for housing and homelessness, Cllr Louwella Prenter (Lab), said the authority was ramping up the number of stock condition surveys (SCSs) to keep its record up-to-date.

She added that the 8% of properties not meeting the DHS would be whittled down as scheduled improvements were made, but the key marker was having a plan to ensure work was done.

Cllr Prenter said: “It's good news and there are a lot of positives to take from this.

“We had already been analysing ourselves and working to see where we might need improvements, so when the inspection came, the regulators did actually recognise we were aware of our situation.

“Our Housing Services teams have been working hard in recent years to make significant improvements to our council housing stock and building closer relationships with our tenants. I’m glad this has been commended through the new inspection process.

“We work hard to maintain the condition of our 3,000 homes, and the income received from the rent tenants pay for council properties is ploughed straight back into our homes.

“The regulator recognised our good records for health and safety and also our tenant engagement.

“The tenants panel is invaluable and they work with us to improve the service that we provide by being a part of the governance group, helping our strategy and policy.

“We are striving for the best quality standard of accommodation we can get for our tenants and we will work towards getting that C1 rating.”

She added the council also performs The Big Door Knock for 11 months of the year, where housing officers visit social housing across the Towns to ask residents if they have any issues which need resolving, but also to conduct general surveys about tenant satisfaction.

The report also praised the use of tenant and leaseholder panels, where people living in the council’s social housing can put forward representatives to raise issues and provide feedback to the council.

The new surveys added additional benchmarks to standard housing assessments, taking into account the feelings of residents about the performance of their landlord in their considerations.

The evaluation involved looking at a range of documents about the social housing stock as well as interviews with the council’s chief executive Richard Hicks, council leader Vince Maple (Lab), housing officers, and residents living in Medway’s social housing.

Responding to the report, the Medway Conservatives welcomed the findings and praised the performance of the council.

Councillor Andrew Lawrence, shadow cabinet member for regeneration, community and housing, said: “The Housing Team can be proud of the outcome and the progress made in delivering high-quality housing for Medway Council tenants.

“I would like to commend officers on the engagement with tenants and thank those tenants who gave much of their own time to be involved in the inspection process.

“My ongoing conversations with officers and through the overview and scrutiny committee on a broad range of issues including temporary housing as well as the council’s own stock give me confidence that the team are very well placed to meet the ongoing challenges of providing housing in Medway.”

So far, these new assessments have been reactionary and carried out in response to problems. Medway’s is the first in a schedule of routine inspections.

Elsewhere in the Towns, the Heart of Medway social housing association will also be assessed as it owns enough properties to warrant being assessed.

The new tests came about following the Grenfell Tower fire in an attempt to improve the oversight of building safety.

The London Borough of Newham is the only council landlord currently rated with a C4, after a litany of issues were found with fire safety, electrical checks not being completed for years, and a lack of information about housing stock.