Under government plans to improve housing standards, rogue landlords who provide poor social housing could be "named and shamed" online.
It comes as the government plans to establish a "resident panel" to allow social tenants to be heard "directly by the government". To help establish the new rules, 250 people from across England will be invited to share their experiences, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said.
The changes are set to be enforced via new legislation which will post falling landlords' names on the government's website and social media channels. Those named and shamed will also include landlords who have breached consumer standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing or where the Housing Ombudsman has made a finding of "severe maladministration" against them.
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The resident panel also provides an opportunity for tenants to have their say on how social housing should be improved, the Mirror reports. "The panel will allow residents to scrutinise and influence measures to strengthen the Decent Homes Standard, training and qualification for staff, a new Access to Information Scheme and other planned reforms," the DLUHC said.
Eddie Hughes, the minister for social housing, said: "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.
"We have published draft legislation today to toughen up regulation of social housing landlords. This includes naming and shaming those landlords who fail to meet acceptable living standards and giving tenants a direct channel to raise their concerns with Government. This package will help to deliver on our commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030."
The panel will also be supported by a national survey made up of around 5,000 resident who have been asked to share their view on their landlords' services during March and April 2022 - this will also be used to monitor the impact of reforms.
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