New consumer standards for social housing | News

The Regulator of Social Housing has published its new set of consumer standards and regulatory approach to deliver a “well-governed social housing sector” which provides quality homes and services for tenants.

The four new consumer standards are:

• The Safety and Quality Homes Standard  focuses on ensuring that landlords understand the condition of all of their homes and make use of that data to provide safe, quality homes. Landlords are required to deliver repairs, maintenance and planned improvements in an effective, efficient and timely manner, and must be clear on their health and safety responsibilities.
• The Transparency, Influence, and Accountability Standard: the standard requires landlords to be transparent with tenants, treat them fairly and respectfully so they can access services. Tenants must be able to voice concerns where necessary, influence decisions, and hold the landlord accountable.
• The Neighbourhood and Community Standard:  Landlords need to engage with relevant parties to ensure tenants live in secure, well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes.
• The Tenancy Standard:  This standard outlines fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for managing tenancies by landlords.

From 1 April, the regulator will inspect large landlords, with 1,000 or more social homes at least once every four years to ensure they are meeting the consumer standards. The RSH will carry out inspections outside of this four-year programme, for example one on small landlords.

Click here to find out more about the new social housing consumer standards.