English regulator launches tenant survey to get ‘deeper understanding’ of service levels

The survey will use the same 12 “tenant perception” questions included in the TSMs, covering areas such as repairs, complaints-handling and maintenance of communal areas.

The number of tenants to be surveyed will be agreed between the RSH and the firm conducting the exercise, which the agency still has to appoint.

“Our priority is to make sure the results provide robust information about tenants at a sector level, and the number of tenants interviewed will need to be sufficiently large to achieve this objective,” an RSH spokesperson said.

Final timescales for the survey are still be decided.

However, the RSH is aiming to use the results to support its analysis of landlord performance in the first year of TSM results, the spokesperson added. Landlords are expected to have published their first year’s TSM data in mid-2024.

The TSMs are part of extra consumer powers for the regulator aimed at protecting tenants and giving them more of a voice amid a heightened focus on social housing conditions.

It comes after a series of media reports highlighted shocking living conditions, and the high-profile case of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died due to exposure to mould in his home.

The RSH is also consulting on a new set of consumer standards to protect tenants, and developing an approach for new landlord inspections that will start from next April.

Mr Perry added: “We’re gearing up for the biggest change in social housing regulation for a decade. 

“It’s vital that landlords focus on their core objectives of providing good-quality homes and services for their tenants, and building new homes for people who need them.”