Know your rights as a tenant

As a tenant, you have a right to live in a safe and quality home, have choice and protection, and to hold us to account.

Your rights

As your landlord, we're committed to keeping your home in good repair.

The Decent Homes Standard is a technical standard for social housing introduced by the government. The government set out a target in 2000 that it would "ensure that all social housing meets set standards of decency by 2010"; the standard was updated in 2006 to take account of the Housing Act 2004, including the implementation of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).  

The Lettable Standard is the minimum standard the property will have achieved regarding its overall state of repair, condition, and cleanliness. Anyone moving into one of our properties can expect this. All our properties will comply with the standards outlined in the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.

Important advice and guidance on staying safe at home

For access to advice and guidance on a range of home safety topics, including fire, gas, electricity, asbestos safety, and more, visit our Safe and Sound homes section.  

As social housing landlords, we have a legal duty to provide safe and habitable properties for our tenants that meet health and safety legislation. 

This includes ensuring that your home is free from serious hazards, including damp and mould, as required by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), the Housing Act 2004, and the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023. 

More information relating to the Housing Act and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System can be found here: 

We adhere to the Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018 requirements, which are designed to ensure that all rented accommodation is fit for human habitation and to strengthen tenants’ means of redress against the minority of landlords who do not fulfil their legal obligations to keep their properties safe. More information relating to the Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018 can be found here (opens in a new tab). 

We also must comply with The Building Safety Act 2022, which offers more rights and protections for tenants living in buildings that meet certain criteria, such as being over seven storeys or 18 metres tall. It ensures that buildings are properly maintained, and faults are fixed whilst protecting tenants from costs. This offers tenants greater peace of mind in a safe and secure home. More information relating to The Building Safety Act 2022 can be found here. 

Our organisational lead for property health and safety is Tammy Bradley, Executive Director (Operations, Services and Support).  

Important advice and guidance on staying safe at home

For access to advice and guidance on a range of home safety topics, including fire, gas, electricity, asbestos safety, and more, visit our Safe and Sound Homes section.  

We'll notify you before we come to your home to repair or check the property's condition. Appointments can be confirmed in several ways, including text messages, telephone calls, and letters.

As your landlord, we're committed to ensuring that our neighbourhoods are looked after and are good places to live, work, visit, and play.  

We're committed to being transparent landlords and showing our tenants how we perform in various areas. 

We publish information relating to several service areas, including repairs, complaints, safety, and how we spend the money we generate, including directors’ remuneration and management costs, so you can hold us to account. 

Our website contains lots of performance information, including our annual report, tenant annual review and quarterly reports on how well we are meeting our Customer Promises, Consumer Standards and Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

We want you to be happy with the services you receive, and we value your feedback. We welcome positive and negative comments as they help us improve and learn from our experiences. We want to: 

  • listen to your feedback, good or bad 
  • deal with complaints efficiently and effectively 
  • keep you up to date with progress 
  • be open and honest about the process.

You may wish to complain if we fail to deliver on our promises. Visit our compliment or complaint page for steps on how to make a complaint, leave a compliment, or make a suggestion, details on how we're learning and improving, and details on how to approach the Housing Ombudsman (if you still aren't satisfied with how we've dealt with your complaint). 

We're committed to meeting the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code. 

The Complaint Handling Code sets out requirements for member landlords. The purpose of the Code is to enable landlords to resolve complaints raised by residents quickly and use the data and learning from complaints to drive service improvements.  

From 1 April 2024, the Code became statutory, meaning that member landlords are obliged by law to follow its requirements. The Housing Ombudsman is a free, independent and impartial organisation which resolves disputes between tenants and landlords. It enables landlords to resolve complaints quickly. 

We carry out an annual self-assessment to ensure compliance with the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code and to learn from tenant feedback to improve our services. 

Learn more about the Housing Ombudsman on their website. 

More information relating to how we manage and report on complaints can be found here: 

The UK government website also provides information for social housing tenants, including how to complain. (opens in new tab)

 

We're committed to treating all our tenants and customers with respect, and we have a range of mechanisms in place that support us. 

We must demonstrate that we meet the strict requirements of the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards.  

We will notify you before we attend to your home to repair or check the property's condition.  

Appointments can be confirmed in several ways, including text messages and letters. 

A reasonable adjustment involves changing how we usually do things to enable people to access our services. 

Where you share or identify a vulnerability, we will consider how we can best offer support, from helping tenants access additional services to helping tenants sustain their tenancy.

This could include changes that can help make your home safer, make it easier for you to move around and do everyday tasks, or change how we communicate with you.

Please view our Reasonable Adjustments Policy for more information.

 

We want to give you more opportunities to share your views and help us improve our services. 

Learn more about some of the ways you can have your say and help drive good decisions and shape services.

Some tenants may have the right to purchase their home through the 'Right to Buy' or 'Right to Acquire' schemes. 

We also have other options if you're interested in owning a home, such as shared ownership.

Your tenancy agreement will outline your rights and responsibilities. It will detail rent and service charges, repairs, and acceptable behaviour.

Your rights and responsibilities will be outlined in your tenancy agreement. It will detail things like rent and service charges, repairs, and acceptable behaviour. A summary of your rights, depending on the terms of your tenancy, is below.

  • Right to possession: depending on the type of tenancy, you can live in , providing you keep to the regulations and conditions of the tenancy.
  • Right to Buy/Acquire: you may have the right to buy or acquire your home at a discount.
  • Right of succession: depending on the type of tenancy, you can pass on your home to someone in your family living with you when you die
  • Right to take in lodgers: with our permission, you can take in lodgers so long as your home will not become overcrowded
  • Right to improve your home: you can carry out improvements to your home with our permission
  • Right to compensation for improvements: subject to eligibility,
  • Right to exchange: with our permission, you can exchange your property for another subject to meeting the criteria
  • Right to consultation: you have a right to be consulted on housing management matters
  • Right to information: you have a right to a tenancy agreement and information on your rights. You can ask to look at the information that we hold in our records about you.

Please view our Policies for more information on specific regulation and rights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For access to advice and guidance on a range of home safety topics, including fire, gas, electricity, asbestos safety, and more, visit our Safe and Sound homes section.  

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