Changes to the Regulatory framework for all social housing landlords in England
Changes have been proposed and are currently being consulted on regarding the regulation of all social housing landlords in England.
This is following a review of social housing regulation carried out by the coalition government in 2010. The outcomes of this review form part of the new Localism Act, which signifies major changes to social housing.
As a result of this new Localism Act, the current regulatory framework needs to be revised. The Department for Communities and Local Government has launched a consultation paper asking for feedback by 10 February 2012. The consultation is open to all interested stakeholders and tenants of social housing providers.
Very briefly the proposed changes are:
- National standards to monitor how providers are performing -
- To be split into two categories of economic and consumer. Only consumer standards apply to local authorities.
- Local authorities do not have to report against the Value for Money standard
- Within the consumer standard, changes have been made to Tenant, Involvement and empowerment; Home and the Tenancy standards.
The changes to the above standards in brief include more emphasis on tenant involvement with their provider; possible changes to commission repairs; incorporation of flexible tenancies, fixed term tenancies; more requirements around Mutual Exchange.
Regulation Framework
- More emphasis placed on co-regulation between the provider and its tenants
- The Regulator (now the Homes and Community Agency) has set new ‘serious detriment’ criteria it will use to identify if it needs to intervene.
Click here
to learn more about these proposed changes
In addition, if you click on the following link, which will take you to the Department of Communities and Local Government page to view the full consultation document, you can provide feedback to the consultation.
www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing
