Regulator of Social Housing says tenant satisfaction measures to be introduced in April 2023

From 1 April 2023 all registered providers of social housing will need to collect and publish a range of comparable information on areas such as repairs, safety checks and complaints, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has said.

It said the new tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), which will apply to both housing associations and local authorities, would enable tenants to scrutinise their landlord’s performance, give landlords insight about where they can improve, and provide a source of intelligence to RSH about whether landlords are meeting regulatory standards.

The Regulator added that TSMs are part of its wider programme of work to develop proactive consumer regulation of the social housing sector, following the introduction of draft legislation in Parliament earlier this year.

A consultation on the measures received more than 1,000 responses, including around 600 from social housing tenants.

Alongside its decisions the 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.”

The new requirements will come into force through the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standard.

Landlords with more than 1,000 homes will have to submit their data to RSH every year. In response to consultation feedback, the RSH will carry out a voluntary data submission pilot with smaller providers.

Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of the Regulator of Social Housing, 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.

“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 complete suite of Tenant Satisfaction Measures documents published as an outcome to the consultation is available on the Regulator’s TSM consultation page.