T-Day landings

Today is a monumental day in housing history. It’s the day on which tenants take control — which is why Inside Housing is christening 1 April 2010 ‘T-Day’.

After months of consultation following the 2008 launch of the Tenant Services Authority, the watchdog’s regulatory framework for England has finally come into force. The 8 million people across the country who live in social rented or shared ownership housing now take the reins.

‘Every tenant matters’ is the regulator’s motto when it comes to the new rules. First and foremost social landlords must now answer to their tenants. And for the first time ever that means all social tenants, including those of councils and arm’s-length management organisations.

Previously housing associations could tick along nicely, doing what they were told by the Housing Corporation, the TSA’s predecessor. Councils and ALMOs acted on the Audit Commission’s command. Now they’re all ‘co-regulators’, meaning that although the TSA provides the ‘backbone’ of regulation, it’s up to individual organisations to make — and stick — to their own rules.

And while the TSA is handing control to individual organisations, cutting 54 diktats from its predecessor the Housing Corporation in the process, it now has greater power to come down hard on landlords that fail to involve and serve their tenants.

‘We know that where performance is poor or involvement is weak, this can have a significant negative effect on tenants’ lives,’ spells out TSA chief executive Peter Marsh in the new framework’s introduction. ‘Where this is the case, we will expect speedy self-improvement and, where this is insufficient, we have a new graduated range of enforcement powers to ensure that tenants get a fair deal.’

Its powers will affect almost 1,800 landlords — more than ever before. From today it is not just stock-owning councils and ALMOs that will come under the TSA’s watch. Organisations for which social housing isn’t core business and private companies that own and manage social housing are also governed by the housing regulator for the first time.

But it isn’t only these landlords who woke up to a whole new world of housing regulation this morning — every single person working for or housed by every single English housing organisation will see things differently from now on.

To mark this momentous occasion Inside Housing has written the ultimate T-Day guide. It includes a rundown of the TSA’s six new standards, plus interviews with individuals working in various roles, for different types of landlord across England which reveal what today means for them (see panel: T-day impact). Armed with it, you’ll be good to go.

The ultimate T-Day guide

T-Day boils down to two major changes of tack for housing regulation. If you understand these and get your head round the six new standards, you’ll be well on your way.

Take control

Forget being told what to do; now the emphasis is on you to sort things out. From today board member and councillor responsibility is much greater than before. Co-regulation means there’s no longer any regulator father figure. ‘Transparency, effective tenant scrutiny and an element of independent validation are central to our new co-regulatory framework,’ states the TSA’s regulatory framework document, which repeatedly refers to ‘robust self-regulation’ by boards and councillors. Sure, ‘providers should use external validation, independent audit and peer review when appropriate,’ but it’s up to them to decide what constitutes ‘appropriate’.

‘Boards are acting as the first line of regulation, they’re taking responsibility and putting customers first,’ says James Tickell, director of consultancy Campbell Tickell.

‘There’s a fresh focus from a regulatory point of view,’ sums up Emma Tarran, a partner at law firm Trowers & Hamlins. ‘It’s a freer world with fewer restrictions.’ But that doesn’t mean that housing association boards can do whatever they please — they’ll be held to account by their tenants.

While many housing association board members are used to concentrating on housing issues, the responsibilities councillors now face will be new to many. ‘There is an expectation that councillors will play a big role in this, but there are varying degrees of understanding among them,’ points out Les Clark, landlord services and strategic commissioning manager of Thurrock Council.

The TSA has set six standards that all social landlords must define for their organisations and publish in a report for tenants and the TSA, by 1 October this year — unless they have a justifiable reason for being unable to hit the deadline. They must go on to meet these standards via continuous ‘self-improvement’, reporting to tenants annually.

Smaller organisations, those owning fewer than 1,000 homes, will be subject to ‘proportionate reporting requirements’, and those with fewer than 25 properties, can skip the report altogether.

Think local

The work doesn’t stop there. In addition to the six standards, landlords must come up with their own ‘local offers’, known previously as ‘local standards’.

‘At local level providers develop their services offer in response to local priorities,’ explains the TSA document. These local offers — a set of policies set by landlords and their tenants that relate directly to local circumstances — must be agreed no later than 1 April 2011. ‘Registered providers shall consult with tenants on the desirability and scope of local offers in relation to services to meet its tenant involvement and empowerment, home and neighbourhood and community standards,’ the TSA states.

During the consultation that shaped today’s regulations, housing providers and tenants repeatedly expressed concern about how they should define ‘local’. The TSA has addressed this in the final framework, though local offers remain a work in progress. ‘It’s what’s meaningful on a local basis,’ explains Angela Lomax, a director at consultancy Tribal.

Help is on the way next month when the findings from 37 organisations involved in the TSA’s local standards pilots go public. Among them, Mark Jones, managing director of Norfolk-based Wherry Housing Association has been working with three other associations to develop local offers relating to the TSA’s neighbourhood and communities standard. They found that by working in the region’s Registered Social Landlords’ Alliance, they could formulate the most relevant offers. ‘We pooled service standards,’ he says.

Six standards

1) The name of the game: the tenant involvement and empowerment standard

What it covers Customer service, customer choice and complaints

The nitty gritty Tenants should feel a sense of ownership of their landlord’s services, and should be involved in the development and scrutiny of its annual report (the one due on 1 October).

Landlords must offer tenants a ‘wide range of opportunities to get involved,’ explains Tribal’s Ms Lomax, who adds that the TSA has dropped a previous expectation that landlords should have tenants on their boards. ‘That’s not a licence to go backwards,’ she warns.

The message is clear: having a token tenant on the board is not the way forward. ‘The regulations are outcome-focused,’ adds Ms Lomax — individual organisations must find their own ways of involving tenants. She suggests: ‘I don’t think people should leap onto the idea to have a resident body that sits outside the board. There are lots of different hybrids [for involving tenants] emerging. People need to think imaginatively, and find ways of working with a broad range of tenants.’ Whenever possible, they should realise the capacity to build tenants’ skills (see previous panel for what housing association Accord is doing).

The TSA now requires landlords to consult tenants at least once every three years on involving them in the governance and scrutiny of the organisation’s housing management service. Housing providers should also have a clear and accessible complaints policy. Unsatisfied tenants should go to the housing ombudsman, and ‘where there are systematic compliance issues’ the case will be referred back to the TSA.

2) To the manor born: the home standard

What it covers Quality of accommodation, maintenance and repairs

The nitty gritty This standard ensures tenants’ homes meet decent homes standard by the end of 2010, though the TSA may agree extensions when ‘reasonable’. If a landlord gets an extension, it must explain why to tenants.

When it comes to repairs and maintenance, landlords need to get things ‘right first time’. ‘Registered providers shall ensure a prudent, planned approach to repairs and maintenance of homes and communal areas,’ states the TSA.

3) Tenancy or not tenancy: the tenancy standard

What it covers Rents and tenure

The nitty gritty ‘Registered providers shall let their homes in a fair, transparent and efficient way,’ says the TSA. Councils and ALMOs are exempt from the rents bit, which ensures housing providers set rents using certain formulas: central government sets the rents paid by local authority tenants; to add another level of bureaucracy via the TSA was considered too much.

4) Talk to your neighbours: the neighbourhood and community standard

What it covers Giving tenants a say in shaping their local area, and tackling anti-social behaviour

The nitty gritty ‘Registered providers shall consult with tenants in developing a published policy for maintaining and improving the neighbourhoods associated with their homes,’ decrees the TSA.

Landlords should ‘co-operate with local strategic partnerships and strategic housing functions of local authorities where they are able to assist them in achieving their objectives’.

The TSA also requires providers to ‘publish a policy on how they work with relevant partners to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour in areas where they own properties’, ‘demonstrate that tenants are made aware of their responsibilities and rights in relation to ASB’ and show ‘strong leadership in preventing and tackling ASB’.

5) Take care of the pennies: the value for money standard

What it covers: Ensuring economic and quality services

The nitty gritty In meeting all TSA standards, and their local offers, landlords must manage their resources to provide ‘cost-effective, efficient, quality services and homes to meet tenants’ and potential tenants’ needs’. Providers’ annual reports for tenants should outline how they’re doing this, including how they’re prioritising expenditure and investing in new housing.

In Norfolk, the four housing associations working with the TSA’s local standards pilots are finding ways to procure services jointly. ‘There has to be a value for money saving,’ states Mr Jones, managing director of Wherry Housing Association.

6) The money bit: The governance and financial viability standard

What it covers Probity and solvency

The nitty gritty Councils and ALMOs can ignore this standard, which doesn’t apply due to their democratic and financial structures.

Not so for housing associations and other providers though. These landlords must now ‘establish and maintain clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities for their board, chair and chief executive and produce an annual assessment of the effectiveness of their arrangements.’ Tribals’ Ms Lomax points out that Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1996, which used to provide guidance on the payment and benefits received by board members and staff has been ‘deleted’. ‘My advice is to act as if it still exists in the absence of clear guidance,’ she says. Meanwhile, Trowers & Hamlins’ Ms Tarran adds that although housing regulations have changed, charity law still applies. ‘There are still restrictions’, she says, ‘especially if you are a charity’.

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