11 Accepted

Whilst social housing providers cannot be blamed for the age of their stock or for...

Recommendation
Whilst social housing providers cannot be blamed for the age of their stock or for government policy, they must certainly take responsibility, where they have failed to respond properly to requests for repairs, have preferred quick fixes to structural problems, have failed to properly investigate the causes of serious disrepair, and have allowed sites earmarked for regeneration to fall into disrepair. We are also concerned that many providers are too passive in monitoring the condition of their stock and relying on tenants to report problems.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the need for providers to take responsibility for housing quality, committing to collect more data on the Decent Homes Standard from next year and progressing work to review consumer standards and implement new Tenant Satisfaction Measures.
Paragraph Reference
49
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government Accepted
1. We agree with the Committee that the sector needs to ensure it prioritises the quality of housing being provided to tenants. Every tenant deserves to live in a safe, decent, and good quality home. It’s clear from the Committee’s report, and from some of our own casework, that at times some landlords have failed to provide that consistently. Our messaging to the sector has been and remains unequivocally strong and clear on this issue; that registered providers should maintain a constant focus on delivering safe, good quality homes and treating tenants with respect, and where things are going wrong, act promptly to put them right. (Paragraph 18) 3. We agree that it is imperative that providers understand the condition of their stock in order for them to ensure they provide homes of a decent quality. Our recently published Consumer Regulation Review 2021/221 sets out the importance of providers having accurate data about the condition and safety of tenants’ homes, as well as about the diverse needs of their tenants. In some of the cases where we have found a breach of our consumer standards, providers did not have accurate data about their stock, which contributed to our finding a breach of our standards. In the current Statistical Data Return we have emphasised the particular importance of providers having good quality stock condition data and accurate reporting of compliance with the Decent Homes Standard (DHS). We will collect more data from providers on the Decent Homes Standard from next year and are already focusing on providers’ understanding of their stock in our regulatory engagement with them. (Paragraph 50) 4. We are progressing our work to review the consumer standards, which will set the outcomes we expect providers to achieve in a proactive consumer regulation regime, including in relation to the quality of their homes and repairs services. As part of this work, we will carefully consider our expectations of providers in relation to understanding the condition of their homes. We have also recently confirmed the outcome of our consultation on the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), which include measures on repairs performance; DHS and statutory Health and Safety compliance; and tenants’ experience of the quality of their homes and repairs services. (Paragraph 50)
Addressee Bodies
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Timeline
Recommendation age 4.0 yrs
Report published 20 Jul 2022