Tenant Services Authority News Release
 
Chairman and CEO of new housing regulator pledge to champion what tenants want

Monday 27 October 2008

The new team in charge of the affordable housing regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), have told MPs they will use new powers to drive up the quality of services provided by social landlords and make sure tenants have a say in how their estates are run following the TSA’s launch at the beginning of December.

The new powers will include the ability to name and shame poor landlords through improvement notices and move the management of estates to a different landlord.

Speaking in front of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee last week (Tuesday 21 October), Chief Executive of the TSA Peter Marsh said, “Fundamentally the name says it all – we are the Tenant Services Authority, we exist to champion what consumers want. We are certain that the TSA needs to be an organisation with tenants at its heart.

“I am familiar with the concern that tenants have around the difference in performance between one estate and the next. Housing is a local service. You need to know locally how people are feeling, and the best way of finding that out is to get their feedback. That’s why I believe the TSA standards, which we will be consulting on with tenants from January, need to go far beyond the rather sterile debate about tenants on boards.

“I think tenants on boards are a damn good thing...but it’s not just about tenants on boards. It’s about the local engagement with a tenants’ forum on each block, it’s about tenant-led inspection and giving tenants more choice about management and maintenance contracts that are being delivered on their behalf with their rent.”

Peter Marsh also explained that the TSA would reward good landlords with a non-intrusive approach – but that it would not be shy in acting where action was required.

“I am not an advocate of light touch regulation. What I am an advocate of is proportional regulation. I am telling boards and executives that if you are an organisation that has a healthy balance sheet, whose management costs per home are reasonable, that has good governance and whose tenants are satisfied with the deal, you should not see TSA from year to year. [But] our staff will need to spend time assessing information on performance on viability, engagement and customer service.

“The new act gives us a whole set of graduated powers. It will start off with an improvement notice; go through to an enforcement notice, both being able to be applied on an estate level. Ultimately, the new tenant triggers will allow the TSA to move the management of that estate to another landlord - being able to move the management without having to move the ownership. Moving the ownership can be a very long winded process, moving the management should be a far more effective and speedier tool.

“I think any provider that is providing a bad service locally should be reviewing that, because I know that their tenants will be shouting to us...to achieve the sorts of service levels that those on neighbouring estates enjoy.”

Explaining the difference between TSA and the Housing Corporation Chairman of the TSA Anthony Mayer told the committee, “Next year we will issue our standards framework, the standards we expect housing associations to achieve. If an association fails to meet a management standard and shows no intention or ability to meet that standard, that will trigger regulatory action by the TSA. That was a world the Housing Corporation never lived in. I’m looking forward to a step change.”

Ends.

Editor’s notes:

1. Following the passage of the Housing and Regeneration Act in July 2008 the Housing Corporation’s regulatory functions will be carried out by the Tenants Services Authority. The TSA will be responsible for the regulation of social housing across England. Initially responsible for the regulation of housing associations, in time, the development of the TSA is set to mean that local authority owned and ALMO managed stock will be under a common regulatory regime - giving the same protection to four million households (some ten million people) in England.

2. The Tenants Services Authority has been established to:

• champion the needs and aspirations of tenants, leaseholders and residents - both those within and those as yet unable to access affordable housing; 
• promote choice for tenants and providers of affordable housing; and 
• challenge providers of affordable housing services to meet or exceed the highest standards of organisational effectiveness and service delivery.

3. Peter Marsh and Anthony Mayer were giving evidence to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee of Parliament. More details and a recording of the evidence session can be found here:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/VideoPlayer.aspx?meetingId=2571&rel=ok