Our response to the tenant satisfaction measures consultation

The Regulator of Social Housing has been consulting on a new set of tenant satisfaction measures, as proposed in the government’s Social Housing White Paper.

Views were sought on 22 tenant satisfaction measures across the five themes in the white paper and proposed a new Tenant Satisfaction Measure standard.

We are grateful to our members for sharing their views with us through roundtables, webinars and in one to one conversations. These views have shaped our response on behalf of the sector.

Summary of our response

We support the Social Housing White Paper and stronger consumer regulation and are already working with our members to address questions about transparency and accountability of our sector. We therefore, welcome the consultation and support the principles and the intent behind the measures. 

We agree that tenants should have access to information that shows how their landlord is performing on the issues that matter to them and can help them hold their landlord to account. And taken as a whole set, we believe the measures cover the important issues that tenants will be interested in and will aid the regulator in their work on consumer standards. 

In particular, we share our view on the following aspects of the consultation:

• Although the proportionate approach proposed for providers with fewer than 1,000 homes is welcome, we are concerned about how these measures will apply in some settings, particularly in supported housing.
• We have offered alternative suggestions where there were concerns about how meaningful some measures would be in reality.
• While some flexibility on how data is collected is helpful, on balance we think a more consistent approach would aid transparency for tenants and ensure any inevitable comparison between landlords is as meaningful as possible.

Next steps

The government is expected to publish its response later this year, alongside further information on how the tenant satisfaction measures will be implemented. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the measures or the NHF’s work on the Social Housing White Paper, please get in touch using the details below.