Get involved

On 1 April 2010, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) became the regulator for all social housing in England. If you want to know more about the TSA please visit their website at http://www.tenantservicesauthority.org/.

The TSA has six standards which place emphasis on the relationship between landlords and their residents at a local level. The standards are intended to put residents at the heart of shaping, influencing and monitoring the services they receive.

The six TSA standards

The six standards and the areas they cover are:

1. Tenant involvement and empowerment standard

Resident involvement, customer service and choice, equality and diversity, and complaints.

2. Home standard 

Repairs and maintenance and quality of accommodation.

3. Tenancy standard

Allocations, rent, tenure.

4. Neighbourhood and community

Neighbourhood management, local area co-operation, anti-social behaviour.

5. Value for money standard

6. Governance and financial viability standard

The TSA expects residents and landlords to work closely together to set local service standards.

We have, in consultation with accredited residents' associations, reviewed the previous housing service standards which formed part of the Citizens' Charter for Housing Applicants, tenants and Leaseholders (2006) and which is now out of date.

Consultation timetable

Between March to September 2010, we produced consultation documents for the quarterly area housing panel meetings, attended by residents' association representatives, on the draft revised housing service standards. These standards set out a minimum level of service we aim to provide for our residents in areas such as repairs, dealing with antisocial behaviour and estate services like cleaning. We also presented the draft standards to the sheltered residents' association focus group and the Co-op forum and asked for their comments. 

In the July 2010 edition of Homelife we asked all council residents:

• What services you think are important
• What services matter most to you
• What level of service you feel we should offer and
• What information on performance you would like to see

A focus group was set up in August 2010 and met with staff to review the standards and comment on performance information and the style and content of our Annual Report. The draft service standards were accepted by the area housing panels, the sheltered housing focus group and the co-op forum, in September/October 2010 to go forward for approval to the housing overview and scrutiny committee in November 2010. 

As a result of the various methods of consultation we now have an agreed a final set of  housing department services standards so that residents know what service they can expect. Residents can measure our performance against those standards and hold us to account if they are not met. The borough residents' forum and the housing overview and scrutiny committee approved these standards for adoption at their meeting in November 2010.    

Download the booklet.

If you have any comments or suggestions to make please contact the Strategy and Development section:

Email: housingservicestandards@wandsworth.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8871 7829