New social housing consumer standards have taken effect

Baroness Scott, the Minster for Social Housing, recently stated that “everyone deserves a decent home and to be treated with fairness and respect. That’s why we are taking strong action to improve the quality of social housing and the services landlords provide. If landlords fail their residents, there will be consequences”.

Baroness Scott’s statement follows on from the introduction of new consumer standards across the social housing sector which took effect from 1 April 2024, introduced on the back of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, with the intention to raise the regulatory standards which apply to the country’s social housing stock.

The new consumer standards

The Regulator of Social Housing (“the Regulator”) will now assess landlords against the following, four, consumer standards:

1. The Safety and Quality Standard – concerning the safety and quality of a property;
2. The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard – concerning how information is provided to tenants and if tenant’s views are taken into consideration;
3. The Neighbourhood and Community Standard – concerning the work done by landlord to ensure neighbourhoods are safe for tenants; and
4. The Tenancy Standard – concerning how landlords allocate tenancies and manage them.

How will the new standards be monitored?

The Regulator of Social Housing intends to monitor the new consumer regulations by regularly inspecting landlords, with large landlords subject to a programmed inspection at least once every four years, and an ad hoc inspection if warranted due to concerns over a landlord’s compliance with the new consumer standards or it is considered the appropriate way to investigate an issue.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2003 repealed sections of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 which provided that the Regulator of Social Housing could only take action if there were a “risk of serious detriment” to a tenant. The removal of the serious detriment requirement enables the Regulator of Social Housing to intervene and take action much sooner.

What action can the Regulator take?

Where a landlord is found to have fallen below the new consumer standards, the Regulator of Social Housing can require a landlord to prepare a performance improvement which, once finalised, must be implemented in full.

The Regulator of Social Housing also has the power to issue an enforcement notice to a landlord where a standard bas been breached requiring them to take action to remedy the issue. Should a landlord fail to comply with an enforcement notice, the Regulator of Social Housing can issue the landlord with a fine and award compensation to a tenant. It is worth noting that the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2003 removed the previous cap of a £5,000 fine for non-compliance enabling the Regulator of Social Housing to issue an unlimited fine.

The effect of the new regulations

The new consumer standards introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing are designed to drive a raise in standards across the social housing sector.

Landlords should be aware of the new standards and how they will be monitored by the Regulator of Social Housing.