Tenant involvement
Updated 17 November 2009
Find out how we support housing associations to put tenants at the heart of decision making, and about the work of the Tenant Involvement Commission.
What's new
Get involved - apply to be an Audit Commission Tenant Inspection Advisor
The Audit Commission is currently recruiting Tenant Inspection Advisers (TIAs) to help their staff carry out inspection and assessment work. Working flexibly and on an ad hoc basis - possibly away from home for up to four days at a time - TIAs don't normally carry out more than three inspections in a year.
TIAs join the Audit Commission's inspection teams specifically to provide the viewpoint of tenants, leaseholders and customers on the quality of housing services delivered by housing providers. Therefore they should either be social housing tenants or have recently been tenants. They also work on the inspection of benefit services delivered by local authorities.
A TIA's input is invaluable in helping the Commission reach conclusions that could improve social housing and benefits provision and services.
Responsibilities are varied, they include assisting with planning inspections, meeting staff, tenants and their representative organisations. TIAs can be asked to visit estates and homes, attend focus groups or assist with phone surveys and mystery shopper exercises. The next stage can involve recording findings, drafting reports, feeding back conclusions and contributing to reviews of the inspection process once it's over.
Find out more
- If you are interested or wish to share this information with a friend or colleague, find out more about what skills you need on the TIA website (opens new window)
- To apply visit the Vacancies section of Everybody Counts, the Audit Commission's recruitment website (opens new window).
Please note applications close on 11 December 2009 and assessments take place on 18 January 2010.
News and briefings
Tenants' Rights and Responsibilities: summary leaflet
It is a key part of effective housing management to ensure that tenants are aware of their rights and responsibilities. To assist with this, we have produced a plain-English summary that can be downloaded and adapted by members, for use either as a free-standing document or as part of a larger document such as a tenants' handbook.
National Tenant Voice
Updated 17 November 2009
Martin Cave, in his review of social housing regulation 'Every Tenant Matters', recommended that "A national tenant voice should be established to give tenants both a voice and expertise at national level".
Get involved
At the heart of National Tenant Voice will be a National Tenant Council of fifty tenants that will meet to debate and discuss key housing policy issues. Twenty-four of the tenants on the National Tenant council will be nominated by existing tenants' organisations. The remaining twenty-six will be recruited.
The aim is for the National Tenant Council to reflect the diversity of social housing tenants. It will have on it tenants from local authorities, housing associations, housing co-ops, tenants managed by Arms Length Management Organisations and Tenant Management Organisations, and leaseholders of social landlords.
Project group
The National Housing Federation is a member of the project goup established to help develop the National Tenant Voice proposal. The group is independently chaired by Steve Hilditch, and advises Ministers on the detailed remit, location and governance arrangements for the National Tenant Voice.
Communities and Local Government (CLG) has published details of the project group's proposals for the National Tenant Voice, following a consultation last year. The project group's recommendations have now been considered by CLG Ministers
Find out more
Tenant Management Organisations
Updated 21 August 2009
Since October 2008, housing association tenants have had the opportunity for greater involvement in the management of their homes.
For the first time, a new voluntary route to tenant management has become available. The Tenant Services Authority's Tenant Empowerment Programme has also opened up its funding to housing association tenants.
The voluntary route includes the following features
- New local management agreements will allow tenants to take control of a limited range of services, operations or budgets (below the EU procurement level), giving them an 'easy entry' into tenant management.
- A process for initiating full tenant management will be available without the need for tenants to service a notice on their landlord.
Whilst we would encourage members to work with new and existing tenants groups to develop any interest in taking on limited or full management of their homes and services, members and tenants should be aware that for budgets over the EU procurement limit (currently about £139,000), this might be subject to EU procurement rules and groups considering this option should seek their own advice.
CLG and the Tenant Services Authority are exploring arrangements that might offer exemption from procurement and guidance will be available on these later in the year.
Find out more
Tenant Involvement Commission
We set up the independent Tenant Involvement Commission in April 2006 to look at how housing associations can deliver the best results for their tenants.
The Commission challenged associations to:
- be more responsive to the aspirations of their tenants and other customers
- be more accountable for their performance in terms of what matters to tenants, other customers and local communities
- do more to open up opportunities for communities to have a greater say over the local service provision and the shape of their neighbourhood.
Over a six month period, the Commission asked for the views of landlords and tenants. The Commissioners also met with several expert witnesses, and held a successful tenants forum in Leeds.
The Commission produced its final report, called What Tenants Want, in September 2006. The message from their report was clear: tenants want housing associations to get the basics right and be accountable for the services that they provide.
The Federation is now working to take forward the challenges of the Tenant Involvement Commission.
The Commission was sponsored by:
- Bradford Community Housing Trust
- East Thames
- Northern Counties.
Find out more
- Download the full report of the Tenant Involvement Commission, What Tenants Want (PDF, 1.5 MB, opens new window)
- Download the executive summary of What Tenants Want (PDF, 124 KB, opens new window)
- Download the interim report of written submissions (PDF, 640 KB, opens new window)
Contact us
If you have any queries, please contact:
Terry Jones, information officer, (t) 020 7067 1184
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