Government to teach social housing tenants how to complain

The government has today launched a training scheme so social housing tenants know their rights and how to complain.

It is backing the ‘Four Million Homes’ programme with £500,000 of funding and will give access to webinars and free advice on dealing issues such as damp and mould.  

Residents will be given tips on how to set up a panel and take an active role in how their homes are managed. It comes as the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill is going through its final stages through parliament before Royal Assent. The bill, introduced to parliament in June last year, will beef up the role of the regulator and is likely to see failing social housing landlords facing unlimited fines and Ofsted-style inspections.  

RSH has started to recruit more staff to enable it to carry out an expanded consumer regulation role, which has come about after tragedies such as the fatal Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the death of two-year old Awaab Ishak from toxic mould and the discovery of the body of tenant Sheila Seleoane which had lain undiscovered in her Peabody flat for two years. 

The government recently amended the regulation bill, adding ‘Awaab’s Law’, meaning social landlords have to solve issues such as damp and mould within a particular time frame, and social housing managers have to have a professional qualification. 

The initiative being launched today will give out information such as that given on television programmes, including ‘Watchdog’ and ‘Rip Off Britain’. 

The training will be provided by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH) and Public Participation, Consultation and Research (PPCR)

Blase Lambert, Confederation of Co-operative Housing chief executive officer, said:  “All social housing residents need to understand their rights, know how to raise issues with their landlords and hold them to account, and be able to shape and improve the services they receive and the homes they live in.” 

The programme starts today at 3pm with an online launch event and the training events will begin in May and run over 24 months.