Only 1,050 of 1,964 Harlow council homes had an in-date legionella check in August, and 2,487 fire safety actions were overdue. What the papers say.
Only just over half of the Harlow council homes that need a legionella risk assessment had a valid one at the end of August. The figure was 53.46%: 1,050 of 1,964 homes. The other 914 were out of date or never assessed.
The numbers are in the council’s latest housing compliance report. It went to Cabinet on Thursday 8 October. The same report shows 2,487 overdue fire safety actions on council blocks, of which 403 are rated high risk.
The council says both backlogs have recovery plans. Gas, asbestos and lift checks are at 100%.
Why the council reports this every month
The Regulator of Social Housing graded Harlow Council C3 in September 2024. That is a non-compliant grade. The scale runs from C1, the only compliant grade, to C4.
The regulator found “serious failings” in how the council met the consumer standards, mainly on safety and quality. Its inquiry started with fire safety information the council itself submitted in June 2024. The report says the council is still in the regulator’s “responsive engagement” process. Its stated aim is a C1 grade.
Water safety: 914 homes without a valid assessment
A legionella risk assessment checks the water system for the conditions that let the bacteria grow. Legionella causes Legionnaires’ disease.
The data tables show for the end of August:
- 1,050 of 1,964 in-scope homes with a valid, in-date assessment (53.46%)
- 914 homes non-compliant
- no assessments completed during August
- 1,338 overdue water remedial actions: 249 high risk, 1,088 medium and 1 low
The council says a recovery plan covers 206 assessments. Churchill is the lead contractor. The contractor’s tracker runs to 9 October, and all assessments are “targeted for completion, submission and recording by mid-October 2026”. Routine water hygiene work carries on through the existing contractor in the meantime.
The report does not say how 206 assessments relate to the 914 homes. One assessment can cover a shared water system serving several homes, but the papers do not break that down.
The headline figure has also moved a long way. Until December 2025 the table counted only 380 homes in scope, all of them compliant. In January the count jumped to 6,116 homes and compliance fell to 42%. It has since been narrowed to 1,964 “confirmed in-scope” homes. The council says remaining scope gaps “are not treated as confirmed out of scope”.
Fire safety: backlog down by three quarters, 403 high-risk actions overdue
Every fire risk assessment can raise actions, from a door closer to a fire stopping repair. All 3,465 in-scope homes had a current fire risk assessment in August.
The backlog of actions those assessments raised has come down sharply. In July 2025 there were 10,185 open actions. By August 2026 there were 2,798.
But most of what is left is late. Of the 2,798 open actions at the end of August:
| Actions | |
|---|---|
| Overdue | 2,487 |
| of which high risk | 403 |
| High risk and overdue by more than 12 months | 210 |
| Not yet due | 311 |
Low-rise blocks, under 11 metres, hold most of it: 2,311 overdue actions, 384 of them high risk. The report gives a timeframe of four months to close all overdue actions. It lists interim measures in a separate mitigation appendix.
A further 868 of the open actions are parts that an assessor judged could wait for the planned major works programme. The council says these are in the 2026 to 2027 programme.
Separately, about 280 fire risk assessments have recommended a closer look at a building’s external walls. These are checks for cladding, balconies or combustible material. 55 have been done. The council stresses that a recommendation “does not in itself indicate the presence of an identified life safety risk”.
Tower blocks: safety case reports due by 17 November
Harlow has 12 council high-rise blocks that fall under the Building Safety Regulator. The report gives this position:
- intrusive (Type 4) fire risk assessments: 12 of 12 complete
- first-draft Building Safety Case Reports: 7 of 12 received
- structural surveys: reports expected late September and early October
- final reports: due between 26 October and 17 November, then a four-week review
Where the council is fully compliant
The other measures in the August tables:
- Gas: 100%, 8,579 homes, with 736 servicing visits in August
- Electrical: 99.54%, 8,694 of 8,734 homes. Of the 40 without a valid certificate, 23 have been out of date for more than a year. The council blames access problems and says injunctions are an option for repeated no-access cases.
- Smoke alarms: 99.97%, with 3 homes outstanding
- Carbon monoxide alarms: 100%, 7,948 homes
- Asbestos: 100%, 3,440 homes
- Lifts: 100%, 800 homes, no overdue inspections
- Decent Homes Standard: 97.54%, with 219 homes failing it
On damp and mould, the council received 34 contacts in August. Six were judged to be Category 1 hazards, the most serious kind. It says all were handled within the legal timescale. That follows the £416,035 a year approved last month for a dedicated HTS damp and mould team.
The stock condition figures show 447 homes, about 5%, still rely on survey data more than 10 years old. The council plans to finish its survey programme by 31 March 2027.
What it means for you
If you rent from Harlow Council or own a leasehold flat in a council block:
- Let the contractor in. The report repeatedly names access as the main cause of missed checks. Churchill is doing the water assessments this month.
- Report damp, mould or a missing alarm to the council’s repairs line. Under Awaab’s Law, emergency hazards must be made safe within 24 hours.
- Look out for the tenant survey. The council says it launches in October, through the tenant portal, by email and on paper on request.
- Ask about your block. Fire risk assessments are block by block. You can ask the council what actions are open for your building and when they are due.
The next compliance report is due at November’s Cabinet. We will check whether the water assessments were finished by mid-October as promised.
Sources
- Harlow Council, Social Housing Regulatory and Compliance Update, Cabinet 8 October 2026
- Harlow Council, Appendix A: Compliance Data Tables and Commentary
- Harlow Council, Appendix B: Compliance Mitigation Measures
- Regulator of Social Housing, regulatory judgement for Harlow District Council, 25 September 2024
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