Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department issues to the regulated housing sector on consultation with tenants.

Our charter for social housing residents is clear that every resident can expect to have their voice heard by their landlord. Empowering residents at the local level to hold their landlords to account is at the heart of our new regulatory framework.

The Regulator of Social Housing has recently consulted on its revised draft consumer standards, one of which is the proposed Transparency, Influence & Accountability standard. This standard will set an expectation that registered providers must take tenants’ views into account in their decision making about how landlord services are delivered. The revised consumer standards will be introduced from 1 April this year.

We are committed to listening to social housing residents. Both my department - through our Resident Panel which enables residents from across the country to directly share their views with government - and the Regulator have forums to ensure that residents’ voices help guide and inform our work. We also have an Expert Challenge Panel, which consults key experts in the sector, including tenant groups. We will continue working to strengthen resident voice and are extending the Resident Panel into 2024/25.

We are currently inviting views from social housing tenants on the proposals for ‘Awaab’s Law’ through the live government consultation and will continue to consult tenants on developments in the social housing sector.