Hackney Council has been found to have “serious failings” by the social housing watchdog.

And an opposition councillor called for the cabinet member responsible to resign, saying new leadership is needed.

The Regulator of Social Housing revealed that over two thirds of the council’s 21,500 homes are without a current electrical safety certificate.

“There was also no evidence of smoke detectors being fitted in almost 9,000 homes, or carbon monoxide detectors in over 400 homes”, the RSH said.

There are also 400 Hackney Council homes that have not had a gas safety inspection within the required timeframe, and more than 1,400 open damp and mould cases in tenants’ homes.

The Town Hall has received a C3 grade for not meeting the new consumer standards for social housing landlords introduced in April.

The score means “there are serious failings, and they need to make significant improvements”.

It comes amid reports of poor repairs and leaks at multiple tower blocks in the borough.

Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the RSH, said: “The issues outlined in the judgements published today need to be addressed promptly and we are working intensively with each of the landlords as they put things right for their tenants.”

Co-Leader of the Hackney Green Party Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, took to X to reiterate his call for Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, cabinet member for housing services and resident participation, to resign.

He tweeted: “Today the Regulator for Social Housing found Hackney Council to have serious failings as a social landlord, including serious safety failures.

“This is why Hackney Greens have called for the resignation of the cabinet member responsible. New leadership needed.”

Cllr McKenzie said: “We have never hidden the fact that we need to improve the service we provide to the people living in our homes.

“We have made strides towards this, and we are seeing improvements in both performance and resident satisfaction, but we fully acknowledge there is still more to do”.

In November 2023, Hackney Council reported that the housing service’s overall tenant satisfaction rate had increased to 59%, up from the 52% recorded in 2022.

Cllr McKenzie added: “While we fully acknowledge and accept the regulator’s findings, since submitting our self-referral we have improved in all the five areas, and we are now compliant with the fire risk assessment of communal areas.

“For the remaining areas we have improvement plans in place to ensure compliance by the end of August.”

Hackney Council say they have now completed 98% of their gas safety checks, 99% of their asbestos safety checks, 95% of their water safety checks and 85% of their lift safety checks.