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Corporate Customers

Have Your Say on new Consumer Standards

31 July 2023
2 mins

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has launched a 12 week consultation on four draft new standards to protect tenants and improve the services they receive.   

The standards are part of sweeping reforms to the regulation of social housing driven by the Grenfell Tower fire. They sit alongside the Social Housing (Regulation) Act which introduces many new obligations landlords will have to follow, while giving more powers to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) and the Housing Ombudsman.  The new obligations include:  

  • ‘Ofsted-like’ inspections, carried out by the RSH, with as little as 48 hours’ notice  

  • Allowing the RSH to issue ‘performance improvement plan notices’ if landlords fail, or there's a risk they will fail, to meet standards,  

  • Specific timescales for landlords to respond to and investigate repairs  

Here at Platform, we welcome the new regulation reforms and the opportunity to play our part in consultation on the new standards. We are keen to influence the positive customer-focussed impacts they are designed to deliver and how they can help us in our work to ensure our homes are safe and decent and our services are good-quality.  

More about the Standards  

The standards set out the criteria all registered providers must meet so tenants live in safe, quality homes, have choice and protection, and can hold landlords to account. 

The proposed standards are:  

  • Safety and Quality Standard 

  • Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard 

  • Neighbourhood and Community Standard 

  • Tenancy Standard 

You can see the Standards in more detail here  

Have your Say  

The RSH are keen to get views on the proposals from registered providers, tenants and anyone with an interest in social housing. We encourage you to get involved and help  shape the standards. Consultation closes on 17 October with standards expected to be in place from April 2024.

To have you say click here