Charter for social housing residents
The Social Housing White Paper, published in November 2020, outlines what social housing residents should expect from their landlords. It seeks to rebalance the relationship between residents and landlords and enable residents to hold their landlord to account and understand how they are performing.
The Social Housing White Paper sets out the action the government will take to ensure that residents in Social Housing are safe, are listened to, live in good quality homes and have access to redress when things go wrong.
At the heart of the white paper is the Charter for Social Housing Residents. The charter sets out 7 commitments:
- to be safe in your home
- to know how your landlord is performing, including on repairs, complaints and safety, and how it spends its money
- to have your complaints dealt with promptly and fairly, with access to a strong ombudsman
- to be treated with respect, backed by a strong consumer regulator and improved consumer standards for tenants
- to have your voice heard by your landlord
- to have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in, with your landlord keeping your home in good repair
- the government will ensure social housing can support people to take their first step to ownership
Read more about the Social Housing White Paper on GOV.UK.
Health and safety lead
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 requires registered providers of social housing to have a named lead to ensure the health and safety of residents of social housing.
We are pleased to share that the health and safety lead for our social housing (tenants who rent directly from us) is James Yeomans, Head of Housing Property.
If you are a tenant of a housing association, please refer to your housing association's website for details of your health and safety lead.
The role
The health and safety lead is responsible for:
- monitoring our compliance of health and safety requirements
- assessing the risks of failing to comply with health and safety requirements
- notifying our Executive of those risks, any failure to comply with health and safety requirements and advice on how those risks and failure should be dealt with
These responsibilities are in relation to the properties that are owned and managed by our Housing Service. The health and safety lead is not personally responsible for our compliance with health and safety and building safety, nor liable for any failure to comply with the regulations.
Find out more about the relevant legislation.
If you are our tenant, licensee or leaseholder and would like to contact our health and safety lead for information on how we comply with our health and safety requirements, please email: housinginfo@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
Find out how to report a repair.
Give feedback on our services.
Consumer Lead
Under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, we are required to name a Consumer Lead.
We are pleased to announce that Charlotte Gurney, Head of Housing Regulation and Strategic Initiatives is our named lead.
The role
As our consumer lead, Charlotte is responsible for monitoring our compliance with the consumer standards
These responsibilities are in relation to social housing tenants in Central Bedfordshire Council owned properties. The Consumer Lead is not personally responsible for our compliance with the Consumer Standards, nor liable for any failure to comply with the regulations.
Find out more about the Consumer Standards (PDF).
If you are a Central Bedfordshire Council tenant or licensee and would like to contact our consumer lead for information on how we comply with our consumer requirements, please email charlotte.gurney@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
To find out more about you can be included in your landlord service, view our tenant involvement web pages.