This statutory consultation sets out the six standards that social housing providers will have to meet from 1 April 2010. There are two supplementary consultation papers on the use of our powers and on consents to disposals.

The closing date for responses to the consultation is 5 February 2010.

The six new standards set out in this document for social housing providers are the centrepiece of our new regulatory framework. They describe the outcomes we want to see delivered and the specific requirements we expect all providers to comply with in meeting these outcomes. We believe the best place for the quality of services to be discussed, agreed and scrutinised is locally between providers and their tenants. So our standards require providers to set out what they offer to tenants and set local standards that reflect the priorities of local communities.

We know that the majority of tenants are satisfied with their landlord and there are many excellent providers who already meet much of what we are requiring in these standards. We also know that where performance is poor or involvement is weak this can have a significant effect on tenants’ lives.

These proposals balance new demands on providers to be transparent and report on performance to their tenants, and hold themselves to account – with a significant reduction in red tape, with no TSA Codes of Practice, the removal of thousands of individual regulatory consents, and the demise of over 50 detailed Housing Corporation Circulars and Guidance Notes.

Some early copies of the statutory consultation omitted paragraph 2.5 on page 43, which refers to one of the requirements of the Involvement and Empowerment standard. Please check that you have the correct version.

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