EXCLUSIVE: Litigation may still be the best option for unhappy tenants

Monday, February 22, 2010

Tenants of councils and housing associations could feel more empowered by the new 'co-regulation' approach where landlords and tenants work together to improve service levels. But tenants may still need the law to protect their rights, says Siddiq Fazaluddin, solicitor at Hodge Jones & Allen LLP

An announcement was made recently by housing minister John Healey that from 1 April 2010 tenants in council and housing association homes will have a right to clear standards of service from their landlords. This will be protected by a regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), which became operational on 1 December 2008.

Before this announcement, the TSA had been involved in undertaking a large consultation on relevant issues, engaging both landlords and tenants in the discussion. The top four concerns for tenants were repairs and maintenance, safety and security, reasonable and affordable rents, and quality of accommodation.

A key theme of the new initiative is 'co-regulation', that is encouraging landlords and tenants to work together to improve the levels of service. This has come about as a result of consultation with tenants, many of whom wanted good lines of communication with their landlords. The tenants felt that they wanted to be more involved in decisions about their homes and to have a direct effect on those decisions.

Of importance to the tenants was a genuine involvement in the procedures, as opposed to a simple tick-box approach where they were asked to choose between several different pre-determined alternatives.

To what extent will co-regulation work in practice and to what extent will the TSA's regulatory function need to be brought into effect?

A regulatory system that places the same standards nationwide is likely to be problematic given the fact that each area will have its own unique factors which determine what standards would be appropriate for that particular area. Therefore, one approach may be that the TSA will only seek to enforce its regulatory function where the involvement of tenants has not led to a procedure or standard implemented that is meeting the needs of that particular community.

The new proposals offer certain services to tenants under the following headings:

1 Quality of accommodation – all social rented homes to meet the 'decent homes' standard by 2010
2 Tenant choice and customer service – tenants are given good quality customer service and landlords consult with tenants to provide choice and also obtain feedback about services
3 Repairs and maintenance – the landlord designs systems that ensure the repairs are carried out to a good standard, minimise waste and inconvenience and seek to manage financial resources to obtain a good balance between planned and responsive maintenance
4 Neighbourhood and estate management – landlords manage their estates and support a safe and clean neighbourhood for tenants to live in. This includes issues of antisocial behaviour such as vandalism and graffiti
5 Anti-social behaviour and security – landlords agree with their tenants the level and type of service to be provided and ensure that tenants feel that the landlord is dealing with any persistent nuisance.

So will such new measures lead to a distinct and measurable improvement in each of these areas?

A step in the direction seems to have been made, particularly in relation to where there is a lack of good quality rented accommodation and where tenants feel frustrated by unsatisfactory services from landlords.

Tenants of local authorities and housing associations are likely to feel more empowered by the principle of co-regulation. Many people in social housing have a number of other social issues to deal with such as entitlement to benefits, family breakdowns and harassment from other tenants. There is a good chance that this encouragement to take an active role in the provision of housing services could lead to tenants feeling more positive about other aspect of their life as well.

However, while this would be beneficial to tenants, it does not necessarily guarantee that there will be a measurable improvement in those areas. It is likely to take at least six to 12 months for landlords to adapt to the new measures and put them into effect in a practical manner. Only then can the success of the proposals be measured properly and tenants' feedback at that stage would be important.

Time will tell whether the new proposals will ultimately lead to a reduction in housing litigation. If tenants feel that the new measures have not made a difference for them they will, ultimately, seek a legal remedy.

Certainly, it is unlikely that the new measures will make a difference in housing litigation in circumstances where the tenant is looking for an immediate remedy, such as the carrying out of urgent repairs. It tends only to be in circumstances where a solicitor is involved and there is an immediate threat of legal action that the landlord will respond forthwith to the tenant's concerns. It is not likely that these new measures will change that.

However, if tenants are made to feel that they have an active involvement in key issues which affect their daily lives, the new measures are likely to lead to a better relationship between tenants and landlords in the long term. Ultimately, if the tenant seeks an urgent remedy, they will, undoubtedly, seek a legal remedy.