Regulator reveals black and minority ethnic tenants’ concerns
Language barriers ‘cause overcharging’
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Black and minority ethnic tenants are being overcharged for services by social landlords because of ‘language barriers’, a new report warns.
BME tenants felt penalised after being charged for repeated call-outs because they have been misunderstood when reporting a problem.
The findings emerged from the Tenant Services Authority’s national conversation with tenants conducted earlier this year and were highlighted in a full report published this week. The report looked at feedback from 150 BME tenants.
Language barriers caused communication problems, with some tenants claiming there was not enough assistance for those without English as their first language. They also criticised staff attitudes to BME tenants and ‘poor’ feedback on enquiries.
‘Language, literacy and lack of support are key to why BME tenants have little involvement,’ the report states.
Phil Morgan, executive director for tenant services at the regulator, said: ‘BME tenants… feel less valued as customers because they don’t believe their landlords fully listen. In some instances, tenants have been incorrectly charged for services because they were misunderstood when reporting a repair.’
BME tenants felt that the way housing is allocated was one of the poorest of all housing services, Mr Morgan added. ‘Some tenants reported that allocations were provided in areas where there was a heavy concentration of BME tenants rather than considering the choice of individual tenants,’ he said.
Lara Oyedele, chair of umbrella body BME National and chief executive of Odu-Dua Housing Association, said lack of choice affected ‘tenants across the board’. She added that bad service for BME tenants was ‘unintentional’ and the feedback probably came from tenants of larger housing associations.
‘I think it’s about when you try to provide the service for everybody you end up providing the service for nobody because it ends up being not flexible enough to meet everybody’s individual needs,’ she said.
She added that getting tenants involved in the recruitment process for contracts could help with the ‘key area’ of repairs.
The TSA has created its first equality and diversity advisory board to help advise on new standards for landlords. Its aim is to help all tenants - not just BME ones.
BME tenants’ concerns*
- Being charged wrongly for services because they are misunderstood when reporting repairs.
- Lack of choice over allocations.
- Language barriers blocking access to services.
- Landlords’ lack of knowledge about diverse communities.
- Service charges that are imposed rather than negotiated.
*Based on consultation with 150 tenants
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