The government has introduced a new regime to hold social landlords to account and ensure all tenants live in decent homes and are treated with fairness and respect.
Landlords will be routinely inspected to make sure they provide their residents with quality homes and services.
Those who do not abide by these new rules face a range of potential sanctions, including appointing new management or unlimited fines.
Social housing landlords are also required to:
The new regime also gives the Social Housing Regulator new powers to drive up standards and take action where providers fall short.
“Everyone deserves a decent home and to be treated with fairness and respect; that’s why we are taking strong action to improve the quality of social housing and the services landlords provide — if landlords fail their residents, there will be consequences,” said Baroness Scott of Bybrook, the minister for social housing.
“This is a significant milestone in our work to put right some of the issues laid bare by the devastating Grenfell Tower tragedy, and I have huge admiration for the bereaved families, survivors and community who have campaigned tirelessly for improvements in the sector.”
Fiona MacGregor, chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing added: “We welcome the new powers, which will put our consumer regulation on an equal footing with our economic role.
“We will hold landlords to account for delivering the outcomes of our new consumer standards and drive improvement across the social housing sector, for the benefit of tenants.”
The introduction of the new regime follows the consultation launched by Michael Gove about new legal requirements for social landlords to address hazards, including damp and mould, named after the two-year-old child Awaab Ishak who died from a respiratory condition caused by extensive mould in the flat where he lived.
