SOME of the poorest tenants in Enfield have missed out on £130 million of home improvement works because the company managing the borough's housing stock is not up to scratch.

Enfield Homes failed to gain the minimum two star status during its Audit Commission inspection in February, which means it has lost the right to borrow up to £137m of Government funding to bring its housing stock up to standard.

A report produced by the Commission is is expected to say one of the things Enfield Homes failed to do was to engage sufficiently with residents.

According to Enfield Council's housing strategy report, released in 2005, 32 per cent of the borough's housing stock is sub-standard.

Senior Enfield Homes staff met with members of the Audit Commission yesterday to "finalise" certain points in the report.

Sources say there is speculation within the council that Enfield Homes will be dissolved, though the council's cabinet member for housing, Matthew Laban, said the council would want to "give [Enfield Homes] a chance."

He said: "It is only a draft and it needs to be finalised, but the initial report suggests that we might not have got the full [two star] rating.

"Only 20 per cent of ALMOs get two stars on their first inspection and Islington's equivalent body successfully got two stars on appeal.

"I think Enfield Homes has worked extremely hard and Enfield Council has given them the financial support they require. This is the reason why we have reserves. At least £10m from our reserves is being earmarked to continue with our programme and should allow a year's worth of works to continue."

He said he expected the council to try again for two star status within six months.

The maximum number of stars that can be awarded under the Decent Homes scheme is three.

A spokesman for Enfield Homes, which was created by the council in April 2008 to manage a housing stock of 16,600, insisted the report had not been finalised and said: "We are not expecting a formal report from the Audit Commission until mid-June. At that stage we shall communicate the results to our tenants and the wider community.

"In the meantime we are continuing to develop our plans to improve the quality of council housing and provide our tenants with excellent service."