Regulator of Social Housing to introduce tenant satisfaction measures

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has revealed that all registered providers of social housing will need to collect and publish information on repairs, safety checks and complaints.

The move follows a consultation on tenant satisfaction measures (TSM) that will see tenants being able to scrutinise their social landlord’s performance and give them an insight into where they can improve.

The data will also provide a source of intelligence to the Regulator of Social Housing about whether landlords are meeting regulatory standards.

‘Launch of TSMs is an important step’

Fiona MacGregor, the chief executive of RSH, said: “The launch of TSMs is an important step in the move to proactive consumer regulation.

“The new measures will provide a valuable source of data to help ensure social housing landlords provide safe homes of a decent standard and a quality service to tenants.”

She added: “Local authorities and housing associations now need to make sure they have the systems and processes in place to start collecting data from April 2023.”

The TSM consultation received more than 1,000 responses, including around 600 from social housing tenants.

Information about landlord performance in the sector

Most respondents across the sector supported the TSM proposals and considered that the measures would provide rounded information about landlord performance in the sector.

RSH has refined the TSMs following feedback to improve some of the measures and increase the transparency they will provide about landlords’ performance.

Alongside its decisions, RSH has published the technical requirements providers will need to follow on the management information and tenant perception surveys.

These requirements aim to strike a balance between ensuring consistency between providers and allowing flexibility to maximise tenant participation in surveys and ensure the measures are deliverable across the wide range of social housing providers.

Requirements apply to both housing associations and local authorities

The new requirements apply to both housing associations and local authorities and will come into force through the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standard.

All registered providers will need to collect TSM data and landlords with more than 1,000 homes will have to submit their data to RSH every year.