New tenant satisfaction measures proposed by the Regulator of Social Housing

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) have proposed a more prescriptive approach to tenant satisfaction measures. These proposals form part of the Government’s commitment to implementing key changes to consumer regulation, as set out in the Social Housing White Paper.

The measures will provide up-to-date information about social housing landlords’ performance, as well as the quality of their services, and will help residents hold their landlord to account, whilst supporting the Regulator in its future consumer regulation role.

In line with the White Paper recommendations, the new tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) will include both objective quantitative measures – to be gathered directly from social landlords' information management platforms – and specific resident perception measures. The latter will be generated through perception surveys that landlords will have to circulate among their residents on an annual basis. They will be specifically designed to allow your views to be heard, particularly around the following subjects:

• keeping properties in good repair;
• maintaining building safety;
• effective handling of complaints;
• respectful and helpful engagement; and
• responsible neighbourhood management, including measures on anti-social behaviour.

Once the new regulation comes into force – from April 2023 – landlords will be expected to annually publish their performance against the tenant satisfaction measures, reporting their findings in a format that is timely, clear, and easily accessed by tenants.

With the proposed reforms, the Regulator is seeking to get the balance right in respect to landlords and residents’ responsibilities, and recreate strong connections between the two parties to ensure transparency and accountability at all times.

The proposed measures will apply to residents who falls into the legitimate scope of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

• This includes: General Needs; Supported Housing; Intermediate Market Rent, including London Living Rent; Temporary Social Housing; Shared Ownership, with staircasing not fully completed.
• The measures do not apply to: Leaseholders; 100% owned, including Shared Ownership homes where staircasing is fully completed; Market Rent; or Legacy Social Housing.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) held a consultation on the new tenant satisfaction measures and strongly encouraged tenants and residents of registered providers (RPs) of social housing – including Housing Associations like Network Homes – to respond.

This was an opportunity to make sure your ideas and concerns about the proposed reforms were heard by the Regulator, and could directly inform the way the Government will shape consumer regulation in social housing over the next few years.

Learn more about the consultation on TSMs

The consultation on TSMs has now closed. To read more about the consultation, please visit the Regulator’s website. Chapters 6-10 of the Consultation document provide a detailed description and analysis of the proposals, going through the 20 key questions that stakeholders – including social landlords’ tenants – were invited to answer.

You can find a simplified list of all the questions on Annex 8 of the above document.

Next steps

Once the feedback has been thoroughly reviewed by the Regulator, they will share the outcome on their website. Please check the gov.uk website for updates.

When the outcome is published by the Regulator, Network will be publishing a follow-up article on our website with further information for residents.

We have also shared the response to the TSM consultation which we sent on behalf of our Resident Panels in London and Hertford. You can read what the panels thought about the new measures here or by clicking below:

Read the panel's response to the Regulator’s TSM consultation

Click here to find out more about the consultation with the Regulator of Social Housing