Industry News


Regulator reveals half of social housing tenants are unhappy with landlords’ complaint handling


Data collated from social landlords’ Tenant Satisfaction Measures and the Regulator’s own National Tenant Survey shows that 50% of tenants are not satisfied with how their landlords handle complaints. Tis is despite 73% of more than 250,000


stage one complaints made over the past year being responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s recommended timescales. Nearly half a million residents responded to a survey about their landlord. For the first time last year social landlords


were required to collect and publish data for a Tenant Satisfaction Measurers survey, which helps tenants hold landlords with more than 1,000 homes accountable for their performance across areas including repair services and home maintenance. Most of the findings shine a positive light


on the sector, with more than 70% of tenants reporting they are satisfied with their landlord’s repair service, feel that their home is well maintained, and that landlords treat them with fairness and respect. However, shared owners are less


happy than other tenants, with an overall satisfaction rate of only 50%. Surveys show that only 37.1% of low–cost homeowners are satisfied with their landlord’s approach to handling anti–social behaviour, compared to 57.8% renters. Most landlords report that they have


completed health and safety checks, including fire, gas, asbestos, liſt and water safety. Tey also say that the majority of tenants live in homes meeting the Decent Homes Standard. Fiona MacGregor, chief executive at


RSH, said: “Te measures enable tenants to scrutinise their landlord’s performance and hold them to account on a number of important issues. Landlords should already be reflecting on their results and using them to improve their services. “Te measures are one piece of intelligence


that we use to build an overall picture of a landlord’s performance, as part of our new proactive regulation of the consumer standards. “We are rolling out our new approach


through planned inspections, investigations and scrutinising a range of information from landlords. Trough our work, we are continuing to drive landlords to improve tenants’ homes and services.”


Radical action to speed up removal of unsafe cladding announced


T


he Government has set out new targets to fix unsafe buildings in England as part of a new Remediation Acceleration


Plan, designed to speed up the process. Te plan is introducing new measures to get buildings fixed quicker, ensure rogue freeholders are held to account, and put the end in sight for affected residents. For the first time it sets clear target dates for


making buildings safe as well as introducing significantly tougher penalties for refusing to act: • By the end of 2029, all 18m+ (high– rise) buildings with unsafe cladding in a Government–funded scheme will have been remediated.


• By the end of 2029, every 11m+ building with unsafe cladding will either have been remediated, have a date for completion, or the landlords will be liable for severe penalties.


Te plan is being backed by investment in enforcement – so that local authorities, fire and rescue authorities and the Building Safety Regulator have the capacity to tackle hundreds of cases per year. Alongside the plan, the Government has


published a joint action plan with developers to accelerate their work to fix buildings for which they are responsible. At least 29 developers, covering over 95% of the buildings which developers are remediating themselves, have committed to more than doubling the rate at which they have been assessing and starting to fix unsafe buildings, meaning work on all their buildings will start by summer 2027. Seven years aſter 72 lives were tragically lost


following the Grenfell Tower fire, thousands of residents still live in buildings wrapped in unsafe cladding. To date, 95% of buildings with the same type of cladding used on Grenfell have been remediated. However, only 30% of identified buildings in


England have been remediated, with potentially thousands more buildings yet to be identified. Since July, the Government has engaged with Mayors, local enforcement agencies and developers to address the unacceptably slow pace of remediation and will now set out its plan to speed it up. Te plan follows the publication of the full


Grenfell Tower Inquiry report in September, which highlighted catastrophic and systemic failures in keeping people safe. It delivers on the Prime Minister’s commitment that the Government set out further steps on remediation by the autumn to deliver real change. Te Government is considering the Phase 2 report of the Inquiry and has


10 | HMMDecember/January 2025 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


The plan is introducing new measures to get buildings fixed quicker, ensure rogue freeholders are held to account, and put the end in sight for affected residents


committed to providing an update on our progress by March 2025. Te Remediation Acceleration Plan will speed


up the process of making homes safe by focusing on three key objectives: 1. Fix buildings faster: Expedite remediation of high–risk buildings with clear deadlines and penalties for non–compliance.


2. Identify all unsafe buildings: Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding through advanced data assessments and the creation of a comprehensive building register.


3. Support residents: Protect residents from the financial burdens of remediation and improve their experience throughout the process.


Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “More than seven years on from the Grenfell tragedy, thousands of people have been leſt living in homes across this country with dangerous cladding. Te pace of remediation has been far too slow for far too long. We are taking decisive action to right this wrong and make homes safe. Our Remediation Acceleration Plan will ensure


those responsible for making buildings safe deliver the change residents need and deserve.”


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