Understanding your rights and having your say

What are consumer standards?

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) regulates social landlords to makes sure all councils and housing providers are providing good homes to people that are safe and well-maintained. They have introduced new standards to make sure our services are shaped around your needs and to ensure that your voice is heard.

The four consumer standards are:

Safety and quality standard: Making sure your home is safe, warm, and in good condition, with repairs and maintenance carried out promptly
Transparency, influence and accountability standard (including Tenant Satisfaction Measures): Treating you fairly and with respect, and giving you the opportunity to have your voice heard on decisions that affect you. Our communications must be clear about the services we provide, what you can expect, and how to hold us to account. Complaints must be handled fairly, promptly, and in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.  We must also publish the results of our tenant satisfaction measures to show you how we are performing
Neighbourhood and community standard: You should feel safe and supported where you live. We are required to work with other landlords, the police, and local organisations to keep shared spaces safe and address anti-social behaviour and hate crimes. We can also support you in accessing necessary advice and services related to domestic abuse
Tenancy standard: Homes must be let fairly and consider your current and future needs. Support is provided if you need help maintaining, ending, or mutually exchanging your tenancy

We can now be inspected by the regulator to make sure we are meeting these standards.

FAQs

Why were consumer standards introduced?

The Regulator of Social Housing introduced the new consumer standards to enhance tenant protection and improve housing quality. These standards aim to ensure that landlords provide safe, well-maintained homes and actively listen to tenants’ concerns.

The changes were influenced by significant events such as the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and the death of Awaab Ishak in 2020, which highlighted serious safety and communication issues in social housing. In response, the government enacted the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, empowering the Regulator to enforce these standards more effectively.

The Regulator’s approach to developing these standards involved consultations with tenants, landlords, and other stakeholders. This process aimed to ensure that the new regulations address the real concerns and needs of those living in social housing.

From April 2024, these standards came into effect, marking a significant shift towards more proactive and tenant-focused regulation in the social housing sector.

What has our response been to the consumer standards?

We have been actively working to meet the new consumer standards. We’ve attended workshops hosted by the regulator and provided training for our colleagues. Areas for improvement have also been identified and we have created a plan to make changes.

We have set up an inspection ready and compliance monitoring group, and we’re in regular contact with the regulator to keep them updated on our progress. The safety of you and your home is our main focus as we work through the improvements in order of priority. Other important areas to improve your overall experience are also being addressed.

With any changes we are looking to make, we are utilising tenant feedback to ensure our services are shaped around the needs of our tenants.

How can I keep up to date on consumer standards?

We will be keeping this webpage up to date for how we are progressing with the Consumer Standards improvement plan, so please keep an eye out.

You can also keep up to date online through our Cabinet Housing Committee that takes place every two months. The meetings are live streamed through our YouTube channel.

We are giving regular updates to our tenant panel, if you would like to be part of our tenant panel or find out more about the consumer standards please visit our information page and use the contact form.

Regular updates will also be given through our Tenant Voice article and social media platforms:

Tenant satisfaction measures

Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) also help the RSH to monitor our performance. These measures are part of the consumer standards and are aimed at making it easier for people to find out how good a landlord is and compare different housing providers.

Find out more about TSMs and view our published reports

Help us shape our services

Keep talking to us as your feedback is vital for continuously improving our services to you. We are always keen to learn and will be led by your views and suggestions.

If you think we should be asking these questions in a different way, then please contact us to let us know.