Landlord Assurance Board consultation 2024

Consultation closes: 2 February 2025
Consultation opened: 20 December 2024

We are the landlord for around 5,500 households. We are responsible for managing and maintaining these homes, ensuring they are safe, secure, and meet the needs of our tenants. We oversee repairs, manage tenancies, support tenants with housing-related issues, and make improvements to properties where needed.

In 2025 we are introducing a Tenant Involvement Strategy which will outline how tenants can be more involved in decision making on topics which affect them. Tenants’ views are important, and we are committed to creating more opportunities for them to have a say in how housing services are run.

One of these initiatives is setting up a Landlord Assurance Board, which will involve tenants in the governance of all housing services. This means being involved in how housing services are planned, managed, and delivered, to ensure that the voices of our tenants are heard and that services meet their needs.

Why we are setting up the Landlord Assurance Board

The Landlord Assurance Board is designed to make our housing service more open and transparent. It will give tenants a say in how services are run, the chance to help set service standards, and the ability to hold us accountable if these standards aren’t met.

The board will enable tenants to influence decisions that improve their living conditions, safety, and the quality of services they receive.

Furthermore, the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, updated by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, gives the Regulator of Social Housing the power to create rules that landlords must follow. These rules are called consumer standards and they set clear expectations for landlords, outlining the standards we need to meet to ensure that tenants receive fair treatment and good services.

They are:

• The Safety and Quality Standard which requires landlords to provide safe and good-quality homes for their tenants, along with good-quality landlord services
• The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard which requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so they can access services, raise concerns, when necessary, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account
• The Neighbourhood and Community Standard which requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes
• The Tenancy Standard which sets requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for how tenancies are managed by landlords

Among other things, the consumer standards say we must be open with tenants, treat them fairly, allow them to raise concerns, have a say in decisions, and be able to hold us to account.

Setting up the Landlord Assurance Board will help ensure we meet these standards by involving tenants in decision-making and oversight, making sure our services are transparent, accountable, and aligned with the required consumer standards.