Consultation on the consumer standards

The Regulator of Social Housing is seeking views on our revised regulatory consumer standards. The publication of draft consumer standards for consultation marks an important step in delivering our future consumer regulation role, with the steps we are taking to develop this approach set out in our earlier publications, Reshaping consumer regulation – our principles and approach and Reshaping consumer regulation: our implementation plan.

We are issuing for consultation four draft consumer standards which set out the specific expectations and outcomes that all registered providers will be expected to achieve. We anticipate that the final set of standards will apply from April 2024:

• The Safety and Quality Standard
• The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard
• The Neighbourhood and Community Standard
• The Tenancy Standard.

The draft standards have been designed to reflect our statutory objectives and powers set out in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 most recently amended by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 (the 2023 Act), and to meet expectations in the Social Housing White Paper (The charter for social housing residents) for our strengthened consumer regulation role.

The 2023 Act amends the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 to give us the power to issue a Code of Practice in relation to the consumer standards. As part of this consultation, we are seeking views on a draft Code of Practice to amplify the proposed standards and assist registered providers in understanding how they might achieve compliance. We have also published a regulatory impact assessment and equality impact assessment and welcome views on their conclusions as part of the consultation.

This page includes:

• The consultation document – ‘Consumer standards consultation: Reshaping consumer regulation July 2023’
• The draft consumer standards
• The draft Code of Practice
• The consultation questions
• A summary of the consultation document
• An easy read summary of the consultation document
• A draft regulatory impact assessment
• A draft equality impact assessment

Please also see the draft Directors’ remuneration and management costs note.

Following this consultation, we will consider the responses received and then set out our decision on the final form of the consumer standards and Code of Practice. We expect to replace the existing consumer standards with the final revised standards from April 2024.

We look forward to hearing from landlords, tenants and anyone with an interest in social housing.

To help ensure a wide range of people are able to participate in our consultation, we have published an easy read version of the summary document referred to above. If you need an alternative format for any of our documents (for example braille) please contact enquiries@rsh.gov.uk