Are You Ready For Stricter Tenant Satisfaction Measures?

At the end of 2021, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) launched a consultation on how repairs and maintenance services and tenant satisfaction will be measured in future. The consultation comes alongside reports that the Social Housing Bill is likely to be placed before Parliament imminently.

These are clear indicators that the Government is eager to get on with introducing stronger and more specific accountability measures for social housing providers.

There are 22 proposed tenant satisfaction measures. These fall into five broad categories:

• Keeping properties in good repair
• Maintaining building safety
• Effective complaints-handling
• Respectful and helpful tenant engagement
• Responsible neighbourhood management

Out of these measures there are 10 that landlords will be expected to measure directly and report on. These include checks for gas, fire, water, asbestos and lift safety.

Social landlords will also have to measure and report the number of homes that don’t meet the Decent Homes Standard, repairs completed within the target timescale, total complaints relative to the number of homes, and how many complaints were responded to within the timescales specified in the Complaint Handling Code.

What If the New Satisfaction Measures Were Here Today?

The question for large social landlords and their property services partners is: if these measures were in place today, could you publish reliable performance reports and what story would they tell?

The tenant satisfaction measures highlight why data collection and reporting systems are so vital. It’s something Osborne focuses heavily on during every property services contract mobilisation. Put simply, you can’t evaluate performance, value for money or statutory compliance without the right data, data you can trust and data you can use.

But it’s about more than just the data. There also has to be a culture of openness and honesty. You can always convince yourself that everything’s working fine if you don’t look in the right places.

Our customers always welcome the clarity that our reporting systems bring. With clarity comes the reassurance that there are no compliance issues lurking in the shadows and the ability to budget with greater confidence.

As a final thought: we’re entering a new era of greater accountability. And if official data reported by a social housing provider tells a different story from the results of compulsory tenant satisfaction surveys, the regulator will probably want to know why.

For more information about Osborne’s approach to tenant satisfaction measures and data collection contact Jo Fletcher ([email protected]) or visit our resource centre.