Regulator of Social Housing to introduce tenant satisfaction measures from 1 April 2023

Today (21 September 2022) the Regulator of Social Housing published the outcome of its consultation on tenant satisfaction measures. As a result, 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 new TSMs will 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. They are part of the regulator’s 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.

The TSM consultation received over 1,000 responses, including around 600 from social housing tenants. The majority of 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.

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

Fiona MacGregor, 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.

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.

Notes to editors

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

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures consultation was launched on 9 December 2021 and closed on 3 March 2022.

The Regulator of Social Housing promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.