Revealed: how landlords are performing against new tenant satisfaction measures
Overall tenant satisfaction has dropped by five percentage points to 79% since 2020, a major analysis of the sector’s performance against new regulatory satisfaction measures has revealed.
Research by data firm Housemark, which for the first time shows how landlords are performing against the Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) new tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), also found that only 56% of tenants are satisfied with their landlord’s complaint-handling.
The data, which involves more than 100 landlords, comes ahead of the official launch of TSMs in April.
Housemark’s report on the research said that for the past 12 years, the English social housing sector has seen “little scrutiny” of the services it provides residents since the closure of the Tenant Services Authority, a government body that was scrapped in 2010 in the so-called ‘bonfire of the quangos’.
The Grenfell Tower disaster, which claimed the lives of 72 people in June 2017, was the catalyst for a major overhaul of regulation of the sector.
The resulting Social Housing Regulation Bill, due to receive royal assent this year, brings in a host of changes to the law, including a beefed up Housing Ombudsman and RSH.
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As part of its new powers and focus on consumer regulation, the English regulator created 22 TSMs, which were finalised and published in September.
The TSMs will be collected through tenant perception surveys and landlord data and will cover five main themes, including repairs, building safety, effective complaint-handling, respectful and helpful tenant engagement, and responsible neighbourhood management.
Social landlords need to start collecting data for the TSMs from April, with their performance then submitted to the RSH and published in 2024.
Housemark has been helping social landlords prepare for the new regime by providing advice, comparisons and analysis around the TSMs.
The report said: “While not all landlords are currently able to report compliant figures for all measures, we now hold robust data for over 100 landlords for most measures
“We have drawn this together into a short report that gives the sector an advance look at baseline evidence ahead of TSMs being part of the regulatory landscape.”
The research showed that overall tenant satisfaction has decreased by around five percentage points since 2020 to 79% today. The picture for shared owners is more stark with only 56% satisfied.
Fewer than two-thirds of residents (64%) feel that their landlord listens to their views and is minded to act on them.
On receiving responses to complaints, eight in 10 tenants receive one within the 10 days required. Only 56% of tenants said they are satisfied with their landlord’s approach to handling complaints.
Satisfaction with how their landlord handles anti-social behaviour was also low, with a median score of 60%.
On the other hand, 83% of tenants said their landlord treats them fairly and with respect.
Three-quarters said they are kept informed about the things that matter to them.
The research found that landlords are performing well on all safety measures, with a median score of 100% on all five areas.
However, only 83% of tenants said they are satisfied that their home is safe.
For non-emergency repairs, 85% are completed on time against landlord targets, but the average days to complete repairs has increased by 40% to around 14 days since 2020.
Eight in every 10 tenants said they are satisfied with repairs, while 76% were satisfied with the time taken to complete the most recent repair.
Only 68% of tenants said their landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained.
Just over 62% of tenants were satisfied their landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods.
The report stated: “During the regulator’s TSM consultation, many landlords expressed concern about making a positive contribution to neighbourhoods, especially where they did not have a critical mass of stock in a locality.
“However, resident consultees felt that landlords’ activity in their neighbourhood was crucial to meeting consumer standards.”
Jonathan Cox, director of data and business intelligence at Housemark, said the firm wants to help housing providers get ready for regulation changes.
He added: “Although our data only gives an early indication of performance based on limited sample sizes, some striking trends are emerging that can inform landlord decision-making.
“There is clear potential for landlords to improve listening to and acting on tenant feedback, as well as how they engage with tenants.
“Changes here could help to address the decline in overall tenant satisfaction that our analysis highlights.”
Mr Cox said it is “not too late” for landlords to get ready for the new regime.
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