Consultation outcome

Standards for social housing tenants - Easy read (accessible text only version)

Updated 29 February 2024

Applies to England

Please note this is a text-only version of the Easy read document. Images to help with understanding of the text are included in the PDF version only and you cannot submit your answers in this version.

Standards for social housing tenants

Rules about homes and services tenants can expect from landlords when they live in social housing

Read our ideas and tell us what you think

How we will use your information and what you tell us

Before you answer questions about our ideas, we need to tell you how we will look after the things you tell us.

Your personal information includes things like:

• your name
• your address
• your phone number or email address.

When you answer our questions, you should try not to include any personal information apart from your name.

We will use what people tell us to write a report.

We will not put anyone’s personal information in the report. That way, no one can tell it was you who told us.

We will put a list at the end of our report. The list will include the names of people who answered our questions.

If you want us to put your name on the list, please let us know.

Your name will not be on the list if you do not tell us to put it on.

There is more information about how we look after your information in our Privacy Notice.

The Privacy notice is not in easy read. You can ask us to send it to you in easy read or another format that is better for you.

Phone us: 0300 124 5225

Email us: [email protected]

Snap Surveys is something we use on a computer to help us with the survey.

We will put people’s names and all of the answers into Snap Surveys.

We will keep this information on Snap Surveys for 9 months. Then it will be deleted.

Snap Surveys have their own Privacy policy. You can read it on their website

It is not in easy read. You might need to ask someone to help you read it.

Useful words

In this booklet we use some hard words. Understanding these words will make this booklet easier to read.

Social housing

Houses or flats which are owned by a housing association or local council. They are rented to tenants who live in the houses.

Housing associations and local councils are organisations that help people with housing.

Social housing landlord

The organisation who owns the homes that people rent.

Tenant

A person who lives in a house which is owned by a landlord. They pay rent to the landlord.

About our Standards

We are the Regulator of Social Housing.

Part of our job is to check that landlords are giving people good housing and good services.

We have written some Standards for social housing. These are rules that landlords should follow when they rent houses to tenants.

Landlords have to show us and tenants that they are meeting the Standards.

We first wrote the Standards in 2012.

The law about social housing has changed since then. This means we need to update our Standards.

About our ideas

We have spoken to lots of people to come up with our ideas.

They have helped us decide what is important to put in new Standards.

This easy read version tells you about our ideas for the new Standards.

We would like you to read our ideas and tell us what you think.

After each of the ideas there are some questions for you to answer.

You need to send us your answers back to us by 17 October 2023.

We will look at what everyone told us. We will use this to help us decide what needs to go in the new Standards.

Landlords will have to follow the new Standards from April 2024.

This is an easy read version. It is a shorter version of a bigger document called: Consumer Standards Consultation: Reshaping Consumer Regulation.

Having this information in easy read helps as many people as possible to tell us what they think.

If you don’t need information in easy read, you should look at our bigger document instead. It has more information and questions for you to answer.

You can find the bigger document online.

What we think the Standards should tell landlords to do

There are 4 Standards. For each Standard we have looked at what we think landlords should do.

Standard 1: Good and safe homes

This Standard is about making sure landlords offer tenants:

• homes that are good and safe to live in and

• good services.

Here are things we think should be included in Standard 1.

1. Landlords should look after their homes

Landlords should:

• do checks on each home to make sure they are good and safe for tenants

• keep good notes about all of their homes and what condition they are in

• look after their homes.

This includes:

• fixing things it is their job to fix when they are broken
• replacing things and keeping things up to date where it is their job to do this
• making sure things in the home are safe. Things like boilers and fire alarms.

2. Homes that are good to live in

This rule has been set by the Government. This means we have to put it in this Standard.

This rule says that landlords must make sure their homes are good to live in. People’s homes must:

• be warm and dry

• be well looked after

• have good kitchens and bathrooms that are easy for people to use.

3. Keep tenants safe

Landlords should make sure homes are safe for people to live in. This also means any shared areas.

Shared areas are places like:

• hallways and stairs
• gardens and footpaths
• rooms that people share with other people.

Landlords must do safety checks on important things in people’s homes.

Things like gas, electricity and smoke alarms.

4. Do repairs

Repairs are when someone fixes something that is broken.

Landlords must:

• do any repairs it is their job to do. They must do repairs in the right way and as quickly as possible

• make it easy for tenants to report a repair

• let tenants know what work needs to be done and how long it will take.

If a repair is an emergency, landlords should come and fix it straightaway. This might be if tenants have no water or electricity.

5. Work with others to meet people’s needs

People who want to, should be able to live safely and independently in their homes.

Independently means people can do some things for themselves or with some support.

Some people might need changes to their homes to meet their needs.

This might be things like putting in a stairlift or making bathrooms easy to use.

Landlords should work together with tenants to help find people who can make these changes.

Questions for you

Thinking about the ideas in Standard 1. Do you think that these are the things that landlords should do?

• Yes
• No

Is there anything else you want to tell us about Standard 1?

Standard 2: Good relationships with tenants

This Standard says that landlords should have good relationships with their tenants.

Here are things we think should be included in Standard 2.

Landlords should:

• treat people fairly and with respect

• understand tenants needs and support them in a way that meets their needs

• involve tenants in plans and decisions

• tell tenants how well they are doing every year. Landlords with lots of houses should send us this information every year too

• give people all the information they need about being a tenant

• ask tenants for their ideas about how to do things better in future.

Landlords must listen to these ideas when they make decisions.

The Government says we must put this rule in this Standard.

• deal with complaints fairly and quickly.

A complaint is when you tell someone you are unhappy about something

• be honest and open with us.

Landlords should let us know if they are not meeting these Standards.

Questions for you

Thinking about the ideas in Standard 2. Do you think that these are the things that landlords should do?

• Yes
• No

Is there anything else you want to tell us about Standard 2?

Standard 3: Safe and well-kept neighbourhoods

This Standard says landlords should help make sure tenants live in safe and well-kept neighbourhoods.

Here are things we think should be included in Standard 3.

1. Help to look after areas outside your home

These areas might be owned by the local council or another landlord.

Areas like:

• where bins are stored or

• footpaths outside homes.

Your landlord should work with tenants, other landlords and organisations.

Together they should help to keep these areas safe and well-kept.

2. Work together with the local community

Landlords should work together with other organisations to keep neighbourhoods safe and nice to live in.

Organisations like the local council, the police and other landlords.

Landlords should tell tenants how they are helping to keep the neighbourhood safe and well-kept.

3. Support tenants who are experiencing domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is when people are harmed by their partner or someone close to them.

This could be someone they are in a relationship with, like a husband or wife or a boyfriend or girlfriend.

It could also be someone they know like a member of their family.

Landlords should have rules that say how they will work with other organisations to support tenants with domestic abuse.

4. Help to make sure neighbourhoods are safe places for people to live

People who live in social housing are more likely to experience anti-social behaviour and crime.

Anti-social behaviour is when neighbours or other people make you feel worried or scared at home or near your home.

This could be by:

• playing music very loudly or

• shouting or swearing at you.

Landlords should work together with other organisations to:

• support tenants who have been affected by anti-social behaviour
• let tenants know how their landlord will help deal with anti-social behaviour
• help to stop anti-social behaviour from happening.

Questions for you

Thinking about the ideas in Standard 3. Do you think that these are the things that landlords should do?

• Yes
• No

Is there anything else you want to tell us about Standard 3?

Standard 4: Renting homes to tenants

This Standard says how landlords should:

• rent homes to tenants and
• look after and end tenancies.

A tenancy means living in a house that someone else owns.

Here are things we think should be included in Standard 4.

Landlords must:

• rent houses in a fair and open way and
• support tenants to live in their homes as long as possible.

If a landlord asks a tenant to leave, they must offer the tenant advice and support. They must offer this support before the tenant has to leave.

Standard 4 has 2 rules that have been set by the Government. This means we have to put them in this Standard.

These rules are about swapping homes and offering homes that meet people’s needs.

1. Swapping homes

Landlords should support tenants to swap homes with each other if they want.

If this happens, landlords should explain if there will be any changes.

Things like your tenancy agreement and how much you need to pay to live in your home.

2. Offering homes that meet people’s needs

Landlords should follow the law if they rent their homes.

Landlords should make sure they think about people’s needs when they offer them a home to rent.

Questions for you

Thinking about the ideas in Standard 4. Do you think that these are the things that landlords should do?

• Yes
• No

Is there anything else you want to tell us about Standard 4?

More questions for you

You will need to tell us

• your name
• your email address, if you have one.

Earlier, we talked about putting a list at the end of our report.

The list will include the names of people who answered our questions.

You need to let us know if you want your name to be on the list.

Tell us why you are answering the questions. This might be because you are:

• a tenant
• a shared owner (this is someone who owns their home together with a landlord)
• answering for an organisation.

If you are answering for an organisation, tell us the name of the organisation.

How you can send your answers back to us

You need to send your answers back to us by 17 October 2023.

• You can email your answers to us at: [email protected]

• You can post your answers back to us, or write to us to tell us your answers.

Our address is:

Consumer standards consultation
Regulator of Social Housing
Referrals and Regulatory Enquiries team
Level 2 – 7-8 Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4AP

• You can fill in the questionnaire online

The online questionnaire is not in easy read. You might want to ask someone to help you fill it in.

Contact us

If you have any questions or if you want the information in this document in a different way, you can contact us:

By email: [email protected]

By phone: 0300 124 5225

By post:

Regulator of Social Housing
Referrals and Regulatory Enquiries team
Level 2 – 7-8 Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4AP