January 2024 – update on the government’s work to improve the quality of social housing
The government is committed to improving the quality of social housing in England. In response to the tragic death of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak, we are reforming the sector so that every tenant has a decent, safe and secure home. We report our progress every month.
Applies to England
Decency
Awaab’s Law: time limits for landlords to fix hazards
On 9 January, the Awaab’s Law consultation was launched by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Awaab’s Law will introduce strict time limits for social housing providers to ensure they are taking swift action to address dangerous hazards such as damp and mould. It proposes legal requirements for social landlords to investigate hazards within 14 days, to start fixing them within a further 7 days, and to make emergency repairs within 24 hours. Landlords who fail to do so can be taken to court where they may be ordered to pay compensation to tenants.
Landlords will be expected to keep clear records of their work to rectify hazards, to improve transparency and ensure that all tenants live in safe, decent and secure homes.
This consultation will be open for 8 weeks until 5 March 2024. When it closes, we will consider the responses before bringing Awaab’s Law into force through secondary legislation (regulations) as soon as we can.
You can read and respond to the consultation here: Awaab’s Law: Consultation on timescales for repairs in the social rented sector.
Making tenants’ voices heard
Tenant rights and complaints
As part of wider reforms in response to the tragic death of Awaab Ishak, the Secretary of State has directed the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce new requirements relating to tenant rights and complaints.
The Regulator will now set a standard requiring registered providers of social housing to provide their tenants with information about their rights. This includes relevant regulatory requirements relating to the homes, facilities and services landlords provide to tenants, as well as information about how tenants can make a complaint against them when things go wrong.
These changes will empower tenants to hold landlords to account by making sure they know what to expect from their landlord.
We expect these new requirements will come into force in April 2024.
Resident Panel
The Social Housing Quality Resident Panel brings together residents to share their views and help our work to improve the quality of social housing. In January and February, the panel are meeting to discuss how to make sure communication between landlords and tenants is effective and respectful. A report on the discussion will be published in due course.
Four Million Homes
Four Million Homes provides free information, guidance, and training for residents. It explains their rights and helps them work with landlords to improve their homes.
In January, there were training sessions about landlords’ finances – including how they are funded, what rent and service charges residents pay for, and how new homes are funded. These sessions were run online and in-person in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and London.
The next webinar is on 13 February and is about housing quality.
For more information, visit the Four Million Homes website or sign up to the newsletter.
Looking ahead
All timings are indicative and subject to change.
Winter / Spring 2024
The government will keep pushing forward its reforms to social housing.
There have been several consultations recently. Once each one closes, we will consider how people responded to the proposals before publishing the Government’s own response.
We will also be setting out next steps on the Decent Homes Standard – which sets minimum standards for the condition of homes – and on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in due course.
From April 2024
- The Regulator will publish its revised consumer standards ahead of the introduction of the proactive consumer regulation regime. Its consultation closed in October 2023.
- The Regulator of Social Housing’s new consumer standards will come into effect from April 2024, and it will start a programme of regular inspections of larger landlords (those with over 1,000 homes).
By Autumn 2024
- The Housing Ombudsman will have put the Complaint Handling Code on a statutory footing – in other words, it will be law – and begun monitoring compliance. It will have also consulted on its approach to issuing good practice and requiring landlords to carry out a self-assessment against this, and completed the consultation on its first good practice guidance.
- Publication of the first Tenant Satisfaction Measures data, provided by landlords to the Regulator. This information will help show whether landlords are delivering the standards of accommodation, services and respectful treatment that residents deserve. Tenants will be able to see how well their landlord is doing and to hold them to account for their performance.
Further information and resources
- Social housing issue? Know how to complain. Visit gov.uk/social-housing
- Read more about the government’s work on Social Housing Quality.