The organisation that manages Brent Council’s housing stock has been placed into special measures amid claims it is underperforming.

Brent Housing Partnership has been ordered to improve its poor performance within the next six months.

Top level management are said to have left, with interim managers replacing them at the arms length management organisation (ALMO).

Alison Hopkins, former Liberal Democrat councillor and a strong advocate for residents in Dollis Hill, said: “I’m not in the least surprised it’s in special measures.

‘‘The degree of incompetencies is breathtaking. I don’t mean the officers on the ground... the local estate managers and surveyors are great despite the fact they are very overworked and de-motivated.

“BHP has been going down steadily for the last three years. They are not doing repairs properly, they report things wrongly. I get the impression they are overstretched but also incredibly badly-managed.

“It may also explain the somewhat hasty and unscheduled departure of their chief executive Tom Bremner. Nothing has been said about it, nobody’s been told a thing.”

The creation of ALMOs provided an opportunity to give tenants a much greater say in how their estates would be managed.

To ensure tenants receive sufficient representation, boards are structured so that one-third of members are council tenants with the remaining positions filled by serving councillors and independents often with business and housing experience.

Cllr Margaret McLennan, lead member for housing and development at Brent Council said: “The council has expressed concerns about various performance issues at Brent Housing Partnership for some time. Brent Housing Partnership is now working to a series of new targets in a six month improvement plan.

‘‘Clearly the council and Brent Housing Partnership will be discussing the results of the improvement plan when the six months is over and we remain focused on working effectively together to deliver the improvements tenants and leaseholders deserve.”

A spokeswoman for BHP said they had nothing to add to Cllr McLennan’s comment.