This is in response to a significant request from social housing residents for increased transparency following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. A consultation on these new rules will allow social housing tenants or a representative, such as a lawyer, to request information for free about the management of their homes, for the first time. This could include:
•Damp and mould: tenants experiencing damp and mould could request information on how many other homes in their building have the same problem and what action the landlord has taken to repair, giving them the tools they need to take further action if they choose.
•Health and safety: including any information landlords hold about breaches in their properties and outcomes of any inspections. Tenants could take further action through the Housing Ombudsman if their landlord isn’t making the repairs they need to make by law.
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•Repair times: under new rules brought in by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act landlords must fix emergency repairs within 24 hours, tenants will be able to see how often their landlord is meeting this target and challenge them through the courts or take them to the Housing Ombudsman if they don’t.
Housing associations will also be forced to publish information about their performance.
Minister for Social Housing Baroness Scott said: "We are creating a culture of openness and transparency among social landlords and tenants, giving residents the tools they need to hold their landlords to account so they can raise standards to the high level they rightly expect.
"This is part of the biggest government reforms to affect social housing in a decade, which will be crucial in addressing systemic issues relating to safety, quality and tenant-landlord relationships that were identified after the Grenfell Tower fire."
Landlords must provide the information unless deemed unreasonable, with explicit guidelines on response protocols. Tenants will have recourse to the Housing Ombudsman if dissatisfied with the handling of their information request.
This is just one of the measures the Government is taking to drive up the quality of social housing, having recently:
•Introduced a new proactive consumer regulation regime, with the Regulator of Social Housing carrying out routine inspections of large landlords to drive up standards and ensure tenants live in decent homes and are treated with fairness and respect by their landlords.
•Consulted on Awaab's Law, which will introduce new requirements for landlords to fix hazards in social homes within fixed timeframes.
