Our latest consumer standards research has unveiled significant challenges in the social housing sector.

Our latest consumer standards research has unveiled significant challenges in the social housing sector. We’re urging housing providers to take action to improve service delivery, tenant satisfaction and asset management performance.

Our report, ‘Raising the Bar’, comes as the sector continues to digest strengthened regulation and highlights obstacles that are hampering sector progress.

We have reviewed the first 23 consumer standards inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing and augmented trends with our own unique data. There have been 15 compliant C1 and C2 grades, with eight non-compliant C3 grades where improvement is needed.

Common themes for improvement include: record-keeping; safety compliance; and the use of IT systems for analysis such as embedded approaches to data quality for assets and tenants, and reporting systems.

The report reveals the impact of asset management complexity, compounded by squeezed financial capacity. Despite damp and mould remaining a top priority, one in five cases resurface within a year, suggesting that current remediation works are yet to tackle the root causes of the issues in many cases.

The report also estimates that up to one million tenant complaints have gone unrecorded in the past year – eight times the number reported by landlords. This gap underscores the critical need for more transparent and effective complaint-handling systems, as providers navigate the new Housing Ombudsman Service Complaints Code.

Additionally, the report emphasises the risks that are likely to crystallise with the upcoming Decent Homes Standard 2 (DHS2), predicting a sharp decline in compliance rates. Based on recent experience in Scotland when more stringent decency standards were introduced from 2020, nearly 600,000 additional properties in England could fail to meet the new standards within the first year.

Jonathan Cox, our Chief Data Officer, stressed the importance of data-driven decision-making. He said: “The findings from this report show how far the sector has to go. Housing providers must act now to ensure that they meet the new regulatory standards and provide a positive tenant experience. We know from our exclusive analysis that it takes 18 months to see service improvement actions reflected in satisfaction metrics.

“Accurate data and proactive engagement are key to identifying issues before they become crises. At Housemark, we’re committed to supporting the sector with the insights and tools needed to navigate these changes successfully.”

As housing providers work to meet these new demands, the report offers crucial lessons on enhancing safety measures, improving tenant engagement and ensuring robust data management.

Other key findings from our consumer standards report include:

  • Only one in three residents (33.8%) is satisfied with the way their landlord is handling complaints. This is the lowest score of all Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).
  • 76.3% of tenants reported being treated fairly and with respect by their landlords.
  • Three in 10 landlords improved their satisfaction scores in 2023/24 – almost half of this group used Housemark consultancy services to help improve.
  • Landlords with improved satisfaction focus on themes such as data quality; extracting insights from data; and action planning to improve satisfaction results.
  • More than half of landlords recorded full compliance for four out of the five building safety measures in 2023/24.