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Seven landlords sign up to English regulator’s new pilot consumer inspection programme
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has outlined plans for the long-awaited introduction of consumer regulation in the social housing sector, including plans to pilot its approach with eight social landlords.
In a document setting out its new approach, published this morning, the RSH said the regime will be fully active by April 2024, providing the required legislation completes its passage through parliament.
It said it will inspect all large social landlords, both housing associations and local authorities, against the new consumer standards every four years.
The landlords included in the initial pilot programme are Bernicia Homes, Brunelcare, Peaks & Plains Housing Trust, The Guinness Partnership, Torus, and Eastbourne, Folkestone & Hythe councils.
Plans for a new consumer regulation regime were first proposed in a green paper that was commissioned by the government in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.
But a series of delays slowed its implementation, with the new schedule meaning it would be seven years after the fire before it becomes fully operational.
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The reforms represent the most fundamental changes to social housing regulation since the early 2010s, when the regulator was reformed and focused solely on economic factors in order to ensure the sector remained attractive to private lenders.
The RSH will set new expectations on the services that landlords need to provide for their tenants, introduce regular consumer inspections of social landlords and it will be given stronger powers to hold landlords to account.
Alongside implementing the pilot scheme to prepare for new consumer regulation, the RSH said it has already engaged with thousands of tenants to understand the issues that matter most to them and used this feedback to inform the emerging plans.
The broad themes of the new standards for consumer services will include safety, quality, neighbourhood, transparency, engagement and accountability, and tenancy. A consultation is due to be launched on their precise details.
The RSH said the new consumer standards would be “outcome focused”, meaning it will “focus on what landlords achieve, but we do not prescribe how they how they should do it”. Draft new standards will be published alongside the consultation.
In the introduction to the new plan, the regulator said “there has been significant public and political
attention given to the reform of social housing” in recent months.
“The Grenfell Tower Inquiry hearings have concluded and the inquest into the death of Awaab Ishak have informed the debate and scrutiny that the bill has received. These tragedies have highlighted a range of important issues, some of which are the very core of the new approach to consumer regulation in social housing.
“Ensuring that landlords listen to their tenants, communicate effectively, have good quality information about the condition of the homes they are responsible for, and provide responsive and accessible landlord services will be at the heart of the new consumer standards,” it added.
Inspections will be modelled on the current ‘in-depth assessment’ process, which the regulator uses to assess performance against economic standards.
The RSH said where it has uncovered poor economic performance, it has taken action “that has involved changes in leadership and restructuring the way that the landlord is organised and run”. It added that its approach to consumer regulation would be “equally robust”.
Landlords with more than 1,000 homes will face a consumer inspection every four years. For housing associations, this is likely to be combined with existing economic assessments, while for council landlords it will focus solely on consumer standards.
The regulator said it will “publish the conclusions of individual consumer inspections”. The bill will provide new power to require performance improvement plans, which will be backed up by enforcement notices and penalties for landlords that do not meet the standards.
The new tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), which will form a key part of the new regime, were finalised in September, and landlords will need to collect this data from April 2023.
The data will feature 22 TSMs that tenants can use in order to asses the performance of their landlords.
But some in the sector told Inside Housing that there were some concerns that the TSMs could have some unintended consequences.
Meanwhile, the RSH said it has also started to build additional capacity by recruiting more staff and building the teams that will deliver new consumer regulation. A further recruitment drive will start after the bill has been passed by parliament.
Over the next 12 months, the regulator’s next steps will include consulting with tenants, landlords and other stakeholders on the consumer standards, alongside developing a new approach for landlord inspections, including carrying out further engagement with tenants, landlords and other stakeholders.
The new activity will increase the cost of regulation, and it is possible that fees paid by registered providers will increase as a result, subject to a further consultation.
Fiona MacGregor (pictured above), chief executive of the RSH, said: “We are making significant progress in gearing up for new consumer regulation, which will empower tenants and give us stronger powers to hold landlords to account.
“It is vital that landlords get ready now. Tenants deserve quality services from their landlords and homes that are safe and of a decent standard. Where there are issues, landlords should act to put things right – before we start carrying out our consumer inspections.”
The RSH plans to launch a consultation on the consumer standards by the summer.
Update: at 11.52am, 12.01.23
This story was updated to correct the total number of landlords involved in the pilot.
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