The Government Set to ‘Name and Shame’ Bad Landlords

In a bid to drive up standards and give residents a stronger voice, the government will ‘name and shame’ social housing providers who are deemed to be failing.

The move means social landlords who provide inadequate housing and services will be called out publicly on the government’s social media channels and website.

Measures will also include a ‘Resident Panel’, which will allow a selection of tenants who use social housing to voice their concerns directly to the government. The panel will be made up of approximately 250 social tenants across England that can share experiences and work to ensure the reforms are working as intended.

Set out in the ‘Social Housing White Paper’, though due to be provided through legislation, the reforms aim to transform the experiences residents have. A major part of the reform sets out to change the way social landlords are regulated, as well as being held to account for the homes and services they deliver.

This bolsters the government’s range of existing measures aimed at improving standards and correcting a broken complaints system – this involves strengthening regulation, improving the Housing Ombudsman Service and enabling residents to exercise their rights.

The package of extended measures announced includes:

• Any bad landlords found to have breached the Regulator’s consumer standards or committed serious maladministration will be publicised on social media.
• The Resident Panel, who will be encouraged to scrutinise reforms made by the Decent Homes Standard, improved staff training and a new Access to Information Scheme.
• The publishing of draft clauses to legislation, including stronger consumer powers, enforcement tools and greater responsibilities for landlords.
• A website page documenting the progress of implementation and a new factsheet explaining the regulatory roles and responsibilities.

All these measures are part of the government’s aim to halve non-decent rental homes by the year 2030, as part of the wider ‘Make Things Right’ campaign.

Eddies Hughes, former MP for Social Housing stated:

““Everyone in this country deserves to live in a safe and decent home. It is unacceptable that anyone should have mould covering their walls, risk slipping on a wet floor or have water dripping from the ceiling.””

Eddies Hughes
Former MP for Social Housing