The Social Housing (Regulation) bill was laid before Parliament on 8 June 2022, and received royal assent, becoming law, on 20 July 2023. Its purpose is to deliver the proposals set out in the Social Housing White Paper, the charter for social housing tenants, by introducing measures to give tenants greater powers, improve access to redress and strengthen the Regulator of Social Housing’s (the Regulator) powers.
This new law brings forward the following ground-breaking changes:
- Strengthening the Regulator of Social Housing to carry out regular inspections of the largest social housing providers and the power to issue unlimited fines to social landlords
- Additional Housing Ombudsman powers to publish best practice guidance to landlords following investigations into tenant complaints
- Powers to set strict time limits for social landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould
- New qualification requirements for social housing managers
- Introducing stronger economic powers to follow inappropriate money transactions outside of the sector.
The mandating of qualification requirements for social housing managers brings social housing closely into line with other sectors providing front line services, including social work, teaching, and health and care services.
Any landlord who fails to meet the requirements of the new standards could be fined by the Regulator.
What you need to know about the Social Housing (Regulation) Act
Discover more about the Social Housing (Regulation) Act in our member-exclusive what you need to know briefing. It also summarises our response to the new legislation.
What you need to know briefing
You can read the full text of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act on the gov.uk website.
So what's next?
We are currently in the consultation period, with sector bodies and government asking for feedback on various aspects of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act.
As your professional body for housing, we recognise that we have an important role to play in shaping and delivering the professionalisation agenda. As new consultations and information emerges relating to the Act, we’ll continue to work closely with our members, partners, organisations and individuals from across the sector to inform and feed in our views.
Competence and Conduct Standard consultation
On 6 February, the government published an eight week consultation seeking views on a new Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing providers.
With a focus on professionalism, the new standards include an enhanced code of conduct that sets out how all housing staff should behave towards tenants. They also require senior housing managers and executives in relevant roles to undertake qualifications.
The new standard builds on ‘Awaab’s Law’ (also the subject of consultation) to improve quality and empower social tenants to challenge landlords where needed.
What you need to know on the Competence and Conduct for social housing
Discover the full detail of the new proposed Standards, which include an enhanced code of conduct and qualification requirements.
How to get involved
We are encouraging all our members to feed into our response on the Competence and Conduct Standard consultation.
Upcoming events
Join us a number of events and webinars we will be running to gather feedback. These include:
- The Social Housing Roundtable (open to all), 23 February, 14:00 - 15:00
- Lunch and Learn: The Conduct and Competency Standards, 12 March, 12:00 - 13:00
Get in touch
You can also share your feedback by completing our survey or you can email your thoughts to policyandpractice@cih.org.
Additional member exclusive-content
You'll find all our member-exclusive content linked to the progression of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act below:
Over the summer, the Regulator published a consultation seeking input on a set of consumer standards, likely to apply from April 2024. This included:
- The Safety and Quality Standard
- The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard
- The Neighbourhood and Community Standard
- The Tenancy Standard.
The consultation closed on 17 October 2023. The Regulator will now consider the responses they received and then set out their decision on the final form of the consumer standards and Code of Practice. It is expected they will replace the existing consumer standards with the final revised standards from April 2024.
You can discover more information in our member-exclusive content below:
- Watch back our recording from the Social Housing (Regulation) Act: The Regulator of Social Housing Consumer Standards event on 5 September 2023
- Read the article that delves into the consumer standards from CIH Unlocked
- Download our member-exclusive briefing
- Watch back our recording from our Preparing for the New Consumer Standards: How to Build in the Tenant Voice which took place on 7 November 2023.
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 placed the Housing Ombudsman's Complaints Handling Code onto a statutory footing and monitor compliance.
In a consultation, running from 28 September to 23 November 2023, the Obudsman are seeking views about:
- The Code and whether any further improvements can be made to this
- Their outline proposals for monitoring compliance and whether these are transparent, proportionate, and fair
- What else they might need to consider in fulfilling their new duty effectively and efficiently.
You can discover more information in our member-exclusive content below:
- Watch back our recording from the Social Housing (Regulation) Act: The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code from 3 October 2023
- Read the article that delves into the Complaint Handling Code from CIH Unlocked
- Download our member-exclusive briefing.
- CIH Unlocked article (member-exclusive) - CIH professional standards: Why now is the perfect time to take the self-assessment
- CIH Unlocked article (member-exclusive) - Damp and mould: Stepping up the fight
- CIH Unlocked article (member-exclusive) - The golden thread: What housing providers need to know
- What you need to know about the tenant satisfaction measures (member-exclusive)
