Council prosecutes landlords for fire failures it ignores in own housing

Wandsworth Council is prosecuting private landlords for missing fire doors and heat alarms while leaving 299 identical fire safety failures unfixed in its own housing – some for three years.

The council boasted earlier this month about cracking down on “unsafe rentals,” announcing enforcement action against more than 40 private properties since July. Landlords face fines up to £30,000 for failures including missing fire doors and faulty heat alarms.

But an internal audit published just days earlier reveals the council has 299 of the same fire safety problems in its own blocks. Nearly two-thirds of tested council properties have overdue fire safety work.

The double standard

Cabinet Member for Housing Aydin Dikerdem’s tone changes dramatically depending on who owns the building.

On private landlords (November 11): “These inspections show why licensing matters. The message is clear: unsafe rentals will not be tolerated.”

On council housing failures (April 8): “I don’t think those are the things at the front of the tenants’ mind. It’s a scary headline when they read it, but when they realise it’s no smoking signs in the communal corridor, that isn’t the thing that is frustrating them.”

The council highlighted three private properties it’s taking action against, including a Putney rental that “lacked basic fire safety features, including fire doors and heat alarms.” It ordered landlords to “install compliant fire doors.”

Those are the exact same failures sitting unfixed in council housing.

Hundreds of Wandsworth residents trapped by unfinished fire safety work

What the audit found

An internal audit shows 299 medium-risk fire safety actions overdue for more than 12 months. Thirty-three actions from 2022 remain incomplete – three years overdue. Another 244 from 2023 are still outstanding.

When auditors randomly tested 25 council blocks, 16 of them had overdue fire safety work. That’s nearly two-thirds of tested properties. The audit warned these delays “can lead to potential fines for the Council and injury to residents.”

Injury to residents. Those aren’t “no smoking signs.”

Housing officer Mr Stewart told councillors in April that “none of those were serious actions. They were all at the lower level.”

But the audit reveals medium-risk fire safety failures include blocked fire exits that could trap residents during evacuations, faulty smoke detectors that might fail to warn sleeping families, and non-compliant fire doors that could allow flames and toxic smoke to spread between flats.

These are the same categories the council is prosecuting private landlords for right now.

A pattern of minimising problems

This isn’t the first time Dikerdem has downplayed housing failures.

When the Regulator of Social Housing downgraded Wandsworth to C3 for “serious failings,” Dikerdem said the rating was “based on whether you can evidence things, not necessarily whether the things are being done.”

When the Housing Ombudsman issued multiple findings against the council, he called their approach “aggressive.”

The regulator specifically cited fire safety management failures in February 2025, noting remedial actions were outstanding for more than 12 months. That was nine months ago.

Wandsworth Council lagging behind peers after damning Housing Safety report

The timing raises questions

The audit documenting the council’s 299 fire safety failures was provided to councillors on 7 November. Four days later, on 11 November, the council issued a press release celebrating its crackdown on private landlords for identical failures.

The same day the press release went out was also when this publication revealed the extent of fire safety failures in council housing.

The council won’t say where these enforcement actions are taking place. It provides no addresses in its press releases, preventing residents from knowing whether hazardous properties in their area have actually been made safe.

The same secrecy extends to council properties. The audit reveals certain estates have concentrated problems – one estate alone has 28 overdue fire safety tasks – but residents have no way of knowing if their block is among those with three-year-old failures.

Behind the statistics are real people living in properties with identified fire risks for years.

In September, a fire at Fox House on Maysoule Road destroyed an entire floor and displaced 60 residents. That fire came six months after the regulator warned about Wandsworth’s fire safety failures. Councillors questioned why the fire spread so quickly through the building.

The Fire Safety Order doesn’t distinguish between council and private landlords. Both have identical legal obligations to their tenants.

But the council operates a two-tier system: swift enforcement against private landlords, years of delays for its own properties.

The enforcement gap

If the council applied its own enforcement standards to itself, it would face significant penalties. With over 40 notices issued to private landlords since July, each carrying potential fines up to £30,000, the financial implications would be substantial.

But councils rarely face the same consequences. While the Regulator of Social Housing can issue unlimited fines and has already rated Wandsworth as failing, actual financial penalties against councils remain rare. The Housing Ombudsman ordered Wandsworth to pay £15,750 in compensation to tenants last year – a fraction of what private landlords could face.

Fire safety failures are either serious or they’re not.

They can’t be “scary headlines” about “no smoking signs” when they’re in council housing, then become grounds for £30,000 fines when they’re in private rentals.

The council can’t declare “unsafe rentals will not be tolerated” while tolerating 299 unsafe conditions in its own housing for up to three years.

Either missing fire doors and faulty heat alarms put residents at risk, or they don’t.

Wandsworth Council needs to explain why the answer depends on who owns the building.

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Have you been affected by fire safety issues in council or private rental properties? Contact news@putney.news