Strict Embargo: 3:30pm Thursday 11 December

Thursday 11 December 2008     Ref: TSA 10/08

Tying up local authorities in red tape will not improve services for tenants.  This was the key message from Tenant Services Authority (TSA) Chief Executive, Peter Marsh today (Thursday 11 December), who stressed that the desire to improve services to tenants is at the heart of the TSA.

In a speech delivered by Andrew Dench, Deputy Director TSA Policy and Transition Team to delegates at The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Conference - Current Developments in Local Authority Housing Finance, Peter Marsh said, “None of us want a regulator that generates red tape and all of us want a regulator that only intervenes when he needs to.  But the information that good landlords need to monitor their performance, and that they share with their tenants, is the sort of information that a regulator also needs.  Sharing that information is not an unreasonable burden.”

Peter Marsh used his speech to welcome the Local Government Association’s (LGA) endorsement of the TSA's proposed role as regulator for all affordable housing in England.  He said,

"The LGA has said that 'The TSA should champion the needs of tenants regardless of the type of landlord they have, work with councils to support better performance for tenants, and act as a rigorous critical friend to council and ALMO landlords without tying then up in red tape'.  We at the TSA agree."

Peter Marsh also set out the timetable for the integration of local authority stock which, subject to parliamentary agreement, will see all tenants of affordable housing being regulated by the TSA.  In recognising the concerns about extra burden, he stressed that much of the information the TSA would request should have been collected already by landlords who are monitoring their services against a wide range of indicators.

He outlined the challenges of:

• developing new standards and regulation for social housing where there are different funding systems for different types of landlords;
• finding a way of regulating rents that is fair to tenants and to the taxpayer;
• developing a framework that offers all social housing tenants effective and efficient local housing managers.

A copy of the speech will be available from the TSA website - www.tenantservicesauthority.org

For further information contact:  Sandra White, TSA press office on 0207 393 2094

Ends.

Notes to editors:

1) The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) is the new Independent regulator for affordable housing, set to raise the standard of services through a well-governed sector that puts tenants first.   It launched on 1 December 2008.

2) Initially the Tenant Services Authority (the TSA) will operate under the legal powers of the Housing Corporation whilst it consults on the powers set out in the 2008 Housing and Regeneration Act.  

3) The TSA will be consulting with tenants across 5 million households and their landlords - including Local Authorities, ALMOs and housing associations - to develop the new standards framework and implement the new powers granted in the Housing and Regeneration Act. The TSA intends to ‘switch on’ its new powers for Housing Associations in December 2009 and across the Local Authority sector in April 2010.