The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) Finalised Consumer Standards to take effect from April 2024
4th March 2024
The regulator of Social Housing has published its new consumer standards for the sector and how it will regulate landlords, including using new C1 to C4 grades, after engaging extensively with tenants, landlords and other stakeholders.
The changes, which are designed to protect tenants and improve the service they receive, are a result of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act and will come into effect from 1 April 2024. They will apply to all social landlords, including housing associations and local authorities.
More than 1,000 people took part in the RSH’s standards consultation, and RSH said that the “overwhelming majority” of people supported the new proposals.
The four new standards remain the same:
The Safety and Quality Standard includes outcomes about the safety and quality of tenants’ homes. The Transparency, Influence, and Accountability Standard describes how landlords should provide information, listen to tenants and act on their views.
The Neighbourhood and Community Standard sets out outcomes about how landlords work with other organisations to help ensure tenants live in safe neighbourhoods.
The Tenancy Standard gives expectations on how landlords allocate and let homes and manage tenancies.
These sit alongside the current economic standards – the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, the Value for Money Standard, and the Rent Standard which we discuss in our training courses.
Fiona MacGregor, chief executive of the RSH, said: “Social landlords must keep tenants safe in their homes, listen to what they say, and put things right when needed. We are introducing new standards to drive improvements in social housing, and we will actively inspect landlords to check they are meeting them.
“We have spoken to thousands of tenants and other stakeholders who have helped shape our new approach, and we are extremely grateful for their input and involvement. It is vital that landlords make sure they are ready.”
To understand the gradings C1 to C4 gradings, note this is not the classification of the building but how the landlord has been graded.
C1 means that overall, the landlord is delivering the consumer standards outcomes, while C2 means that there are “some weaknesses” in how the provider is delivering against the consumer standards outcomes and improvement is needed. C3 means there are “serious failings” in how the provider is delivering against the consumer standards outcomes and “significant improvement” is needed. Meanwhile, C4 means that there are “very serious failings” in how the provider is delivering against the consumer standards outcomes and it must make “fundamental changes” so that improved outcomes are delivered.
The RSH has also published a code of practice to help landlords by providing more information about what it is looking for in relation to its consumer standards by highlighting specific areas and themes within the standards.
For the full article click here Social Housing - News - Regulator of Social Housing sets out final consumer standards
The full report can be found here Consumer Standards Consultation - July 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)