Notes and actions from Resident Panel meetings, October 2022

We held three meetings with Resident Panel members in October 2022. Our plenary sessions focused on sharing changes to our Scheme following a change in law removing the democratic filter. We also shared feedback from our annual resident and landlord surveys, and findings in our latest Spotlight report on noise complaints.

At the sessions we were also joined by guest speakers from the Regulator of Social Housing who joined us to talk about consumer regulation and their tenant satisfaction measures.

This was followed by a special interest meeting where 100 members were invited to participate in a smaller group forum to discuss and share their views on how landlords share information about their homes with residents in support of our thematic investigation into knowledge and information management.

Full panel meetings

All panel members were invited to one of two meetings which provided an overview of changes to our Scheme, an update on findings from our Spotlight report on noise complaints and offered an opportunity for members to see how their feedback in our annual Resident Panel survey correlated to landlords’ responses to our annual landlord survey.

We were also joined by representatives from the Regulator of Social Housing who joined us to speak about consumer regulation and their tenant satisfaction measures with a Q&A opportunity for residents to ask questions directly to the regulator.

Key themes of questions raised with the regulator:

• How and when tenants should contact the regulator and the Ombudsman
• Resident involvement with their landlords
• The type of outcomes the regulator can enforce if a landlord is not compliant
• How the regulator gets feedback and information on landlords

During this session we held some polls to get members’ views on related topics:

1. Are you aware of the Regulator’s new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)?

• 45% Yes
• 55% No

2. Did you respond to the Regulator’s consultation on them?

• 44% Yes
• 56% No

3. Did you know that the democratic filter had been removed so you don’t need to contact a designated person or wait eight weeks before coming to us with your complaint?

• 53% Yes
• 47% No

Special interest discussion forum

One hundred panel members were invited to take part in a further meeting where residents discussed how their landlords share information about their homes in support of our thematic investigation into knowledge and information management

Investigation into knowledge and information management

Q1. How well does your landlord share information with you that affects you and your home?

• Members experienced varied levels of engagement with their landlords with some members feeling well informed through resident meetings, monthly newsletters via post and online, text message reminders and early contact on works impacting residents.
• Other members experienced poor communication activities and record keeping from their landlords including delays in complaint responses and late repair cancellations. There was also poor communications on new contractors with residents often finding out once new contracts begin.

Q2. If you have reported something to your landlord (noise, anti-social behaviour, repair, damp and mould etc) how effective was your landlord at handling the information needed to complete the service request?

• One resident advised that their landlord demonstrated good contact with residents when reporting issues , with easy access to updates via online resident accounts/portals, free phone calls and call-back services.
• Other residents felt that chasing outstanding issues could be difficult, as sometimes agents don’t have access to all of the records or notes are not sufficiently detailed to provide full updates or they felt they had to repeat themselves
• Some residents also felt that their landlords’ responses were too generalised and did not take into account their personal circumstances, and that their landlord did not demonstrate learning from their reports.

Actions and next steps

• Our annual perception survey of panel members has supported our annual complaints review published November 2022.
• Feedback from members on how their landlords communicate with them will support our next systemic investigation into knowledge and information management scheduled to be published later in the financial year. Our call for evidence from member landlords closes on 23 December 2022.
• In our upcoming schedule we will be engaging with resident members on our business plan consultation 23-24, and also seeking their feedback on our factsheets and information leaflets about our service.
• Our next round of member meetings will be held in the spring.