A foreword from Chris Blackett – Chair of the GMT
This will impact you, your tenancy and your life in general! These reforms are about keeping us safe and making sure that our landlord is accountable to us and that our voices are being heard.
Over the next few weeks we will share some of the key changes with you on our social media and other communication channels. The Gateway Membership Team (GMT) are very interested to hear back from tenants about what they think about the new consumer regulations. Let us know what you think.
Prior to our Annual General Meeting (AGM), we will also hosting a Tenant Question Time (TQT) event on Monday 18 September at 6.30pm where we will be discussing the new regulations in more detail. You can join us virtually or in person – find out more about the TQT here.
We hope you find this information useful; please get in touch if you have any questions!
Social Housing (Regulation) Act
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023 and officially became law.
We believe that every person in this country has the right to a warm, dry, safe, secure, and affordable home. That’s why we’re supporting the Social Housing Act in its aims to give tenants greater power and enable the Regulator of Social Housing to better support tenants living in unsafe homes.
The Act will enact the reforms outlined in the Social Housing White Paper, which are aimed at improving the regulation of social housing, strengthening tenants’ rights, and ensuring better quality and safer homes for residents.
From April 2024, there will be four new consumer standards that will set the requirements all registered providers must meet:
- The Safety and Quality Standard – requires landlords to provide safe and good quality homes and landlord services to tenants.
- The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard – requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so that tenants can access services, raise complaints when necessary, influence decision-making and hold their landlord to account.
- The Neighbourhood and Community Standard – requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes.
- The Tenancy Standard – sets requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes and for how those tenancies are managed and ended by landlords.
The Regulator of Social Housing has opened a consultation on these changes and encourages responses from people working in the sector and from those living in affordable housing.
To ensure that our residents views are captured as part of this consultation, we have a separate survey for you to fill in; the results will be sent to our Gateway Membership Team – you can fill out that survey here.
We will review the responses we receive before finalising the standards and Code of Practice on Wednesday 11 October 2023.
The full details of the government consultation can be found here. A summary of the proposed changes can also be found using this link, as well as an accessible ‘Easy Read’ summary. You are welcome to submit your own responses independently too.
Make your voice heard
Resident Panel
The government's Social Housing Quality Resident Panel continues to play an invaluable role in shaping social housing policy. It brings together tenants from across England so they can directly share their views with government on how to improve the quality of homes.
More information about this group can be found here.
Free training!
The Four Million Homes programme provides free information, guidance and training on residents’ rights.
It helps tenants to work with their landlords and make sure homes and neighbourhoods are well-maintained, clean and safe. This programme will run until March 2025.