For housing associations, making sure residents have a safe, affordable and decent place to call home is the core purpose of their work.
Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 and the death of Awaab Ishak in 2020, the government has been working with the social housing sector and tenants to strengthen the voice of residents and introduce new legislation to ensure the quality of homes.
In 2018, with help from the social housing sector, the government published the Social Housing White Paper. This set out a series of actions the government would take to ensure residents of social housing are safe, listened to, live in good quality homes and have access to help when things go wrong.
The Social Housing Regulation Act received Royal Assent in July 2023. The Act forms a new era of regulation for the social housing sector, aiming to give residents greater powers and improve access to quick and fair solutions to problems.
At the NHF, we welcomed the Act’s aims of ensuring better quality and safer homes for residents. We believe these reforms address the issues that matter to both housing associations and their residents.
We’re helping our members implement new legislation to make sure the new regulations work for social housing providers and residents. It’s our goal that as a sector, we can work together to ensure residents of social housing have access to a safe, affordable and secure home that forms the foundation of a good life.
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Tell us how the new regulations will affect your organisation so we can reflect the views of the sector.
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How does the Social Housing Regulation Act affect housing associations?
The Social Housing Regulation Act rebalances the relationship between social landlords and their residents through a new, proactive approach to regulating on consumer issues. The Act aims to ensure housing associations are compliant with the consumer standards by giving the Regulator of Social Housing new powers to tackle landlords who aren’t meeting their commitments to residents.
The Social Housing Charter detailed what social housing residents should expect from their landlords, including feeling safe in their homes, knowing how their landlords are performing and having their complaints solved quickly. The Act sets out to deliver against each of these commitments:
- Residents to be safe in their home.
- Residents to know how their landlord is performing.
- Residents to have their complaints dealt with promptly.
- Residents to be treated with respect.
- Residents to have their voice heard by their landlord.
- Residents to have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in.
To find out more about how the new regulations will impact housing associations, read our resources below.
Read NHF Policy Leader Laura Magezi's blog
Laura explains how housing associations can navigate this new era of social housing regulation.
Read the blog
Read more about the key measures of the Act
Download our overview of the key measures the Act will usher in.
Read our summary
Join our webinar on consumer regulation and hear insights and learning from regulatory inspections
On 11 October, we're holding a webinar to hear the latest updates directly from the Regulator of Social Housing, as well as insights and reflections from housing associations who have been assessed as part of the first wave of inspections.
Consumer standards
A key part of the enhanced consumer regulations are a revised set of consumer standards, which introduced requirements for registered housing providers. The Regulator will ensure that housing associations are compliant with the standards, with the aim of strengthening the accountability of landlords. The aim of these consumer standards are to ensure that residents have access to safe, secure and decent homes.
Alongside Campbell Tickell, we've developed a toolkit to help smaller housing associations understand the new regulatory environment. NHF members can access the toolkit here.
Catch up on our August 2024 webinar, Implementing the Consumer Standards in Supported Housing here. This webinar showcased examples of implementing the standards, good practice and discussed challenges related to implementation.
Shaping the Social Housing Regulation Act
The government has run a series of consultations on the Social Housing Regulation Act. These consultations played a crucial role in forming the sector landscape and we want to thank all our members who helped us respond and shape the future of social housing.
Our members can submit any feedback on this process by emailing us.
Revised consumer standards and Code of Practice
At the NHF, we have been engaging with a wide range of members to gather feedback on this consultation, and have now published these in our sector-wide response.
Read our response
The Regulator of Social Housing's consultation on fees
We've responded to the Regulator of Social Housing's consultation on proposed changes to the way it charges fees to social landlords.
Read our submission
Consultation on tenant rights and complaints
We have responded to a consultation by the Regulator on tenant rights and complaints, reflecting the views of the social housing sector.
Read our submission
The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code consultation
We've responded to the Housing Ombudsman's joint consultation with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman on a unified Complaint Handling Code.
Read our response
Proposed guidance on enforcement powers
We've responded to the Regulator of Social Housing's consultation on proposed guidance on how its regulatory and enforcement powers should be used in practice.
Read our submission
Time Limits for repairs (Awaab’s Law) consultation
The consultation for Awaab's Law was announced by the government on 9 January 2024. We have submited a detailed response to this on behalf of our members.
Read our submission
Competence and Conduct Standard Consultation
In February 2024, the government launched a consultation on the Competence and Conduct Standard and following engagement with our members, we submitted a detailed response.
Read our submission
How is the NHF supporting members on the Social Housing Regulation Act?
At the NHF, we are helping our members implement the new regulations. As well as advocating on behalf of the sector, we continue to provide our members with policy updates, guides and resources, and direct engagement opportunities with government officials.
Our National Customer Experience and Housing Management Network will enable members to collaborate and share best practice on implementing the regulations.
The Better Social Housing Review
In June 2022, the National Housing Federation (NHF) and Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) commissioned an independent panel, called the Better Social Housing Review, to look into issues of poor quality in social housing. We asked them to develop some actionable recommendations for social housing providers so we can begin to address urgent issues of quality, learn where things are going wrong, and begin to tackle the root causes of the problem.
Find out more
Together with Tenants
Our members are leading the sector on commitment to residents through our sector-wide initiative, Together with Tenants. Together with Tenants closely aligns with the ambitions of the Act, ensuring residents are heard, are treated with respect and have clear routes to raising concerns. Our aim is for all housing associations to consider adopting the Together with Tenants charter. This will embed a culture that values the voice and experience of residents, and strengthens the relationship between residents and landlords.
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