Hold judgement on regulation
I believe the introduction of a new regime of risk-based regulation incorporating co-regulation is in danger of being undermined by soundbites and a misleading title.
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The Chartered Institute of Housing report Resident-led self-regulation: enhancing in-house scrutiny and performance is valuable in identifying a series of approaches for ensuring social housing providers do their best to give their tenants what they want.
Of course landlords should seek the support and involvement of their tenants in making this happen, and it is important to learn from best practice. But that is not the same as regulation. Good regulation requires clarity, consistency, fairness in the treatment of those being regulated, comprehensive coverage of risks and cost-effectiveness.
I ask you to read More than lip service (Inside Housing, 26 March 2010) with those requirements in mind. As someone once said: ‘Self-regulation is no regulation; it merely creates the illusion of regulation.’
The regulator should know what tenants think of their landlords and whether the landlords are delivering on their promises. But tenants cannot properly judge the performance of their landlords without objective and comparable information - and it shouldn’t be the tenant’s job to make sure the landlord obeys the rules.
Andrew Greenhill, CEO, Quality Housing Services