Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs)

Have you ever wanted to search for information about your landlord or make a request for specific performance data or information? You can now do this through STAIRs.

What are STAIRs?

The Social Tenant Access to Information Requirement (STAIRs) is a new standard that has been introduced by the UK Government.

It gives people living in social housing greater access to information about how their homes are managed and the services they receive.

Key points:

From October 2026, housing providers must publish key information about how they manage homes such as repairs, safety checks and performance – see part 1 below.
From April 2027, tenants will be able to ask for specific information about their housing, and landlords must respond within 30 days – see part 2 below.
This is similar to the Freedom of Information rules that already apply to councils, but it is now being extended to housing associations and other registered housing providers.
The aim is to make landlords more open and transparent about how they manage homes and services. This will help customers access information more easily, understand how decisions are made, and hold their landlord to account, where necessary.

Part 1: Publishing key information

Much of the information that we are required to publish is already available on our website. For ease, we’ve organised the information using the STAIRs classifications below, including links to relevant pages on our website.

Frequently asked questions

Governance and decision making

Find out more about who we are on our website

What we do – our organisational structure, committees and decision-making processes
Our Gateway membership – how we consult with our customers and use feedback from a range of sources to identify areas where improvements need to be made
Our Leadership Team
Policy library
Our Complaints policy and guidance on how to make a complaint

Spending

You can find details about our spending, grants and use of service charges on our website.

Visit:

Our Reports for in-depth details of our spending in the Annual Financial Statements or a summary of key customer information within the Annual Report for Tenants.
Our community work for details of the grant funding we have available and how it is allocated to local organisations.
Understanding your service charge for information on how we estimate your service charges.

Housing stock management

You can view our current approach to investing in our homes by reading our Strategic Framework, available in our Making a Difference Business Plan on our website.

You can read more about how we maintain our homes in our annual report, including details on:

our External wall Insulation Programme
how we respond to damp and mould
making improvements on the Meriden
and much more…

Information about our energy improvement works and progress towards Net Zero can be found in our Asset Management Strategy.

Performance

We regularly publish updates on our performance on the ‘How we’re performing’ page on our website.

Customer satisfaction results including quarterly and annual updates on our Tenant Satisfaction Measures, along with information on the surveys we undertake and how you can provide your feedback.
Read our Complaints Insight Report: 2025/26 report to see how customer feedback has helped us improve the service we provide.
Health and safety performance is available to read in our Annual Report for Tenants.
Press releases, news about the organisation and local events can be read in the news section of our website.
Information request data: we do not have anything to report yet.
Information request responses: we do not have any responses to publish yet and are reviewing how we might share this information in the future.

Housing Services

Our service standards highlight what you can expect from us.
The Help & Support section of our website contains extensive guidance and support for our customers.

Lists and registers

Watford Community Housing Trust is a registered provider of social housing and is listed on the Government website for the Regulator of Social Housing.

Here are other lists and registers relating to the management of social housing:

Our Building Safety pages contain building safety information that is relevant to each block as required by law.
Information on how to apply to social housing can be found on our website under Find a Home.

Social Housing management

Our policies page on our website contains our decision-making policies, as well as those relating to the management of social housing.

Part 2: Information requests

Under STAIRs you will also be able to request relevant information, which may include details of policies, plans and activities on topics like:

Anti-social behaviour
Complaints handling
Policies, procedures, and performance
Health and safety
Rent rates
Property conditions, repairs and improvements to property
Service charges
Stock profile
Energy efficiency information
Estate management

We have shared links to useful information above. Can’t find what you’re looking for? You can make a request by contacting us in your usual way.