Overall tenant satisfaction in England is at a five-year low, having dropped below 70%, but Housemark data shows investment to improve services will start to be reflected in scores after around 18 months.
These are among the findings revealed by housing data specialist, Housemark, in the first full-year, comprehensive look at Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for 2023-24.
Housemark surveyed English landlords on their TSM performance from April 2023 to March 2024, data that landlords are now legally required to supply to the regulator.
The year-end report includes data on all 22 TSMs and highlights how far the sector has to go to move the needle in overall satisfaction and complaint handling in particular.
The steady decline in overall service satisfaction is stark. From 85.1% in 2018-19, the satisfaction rate has consistently dropped, reaching 69.4% in 2023-24 – a decrease of more than 15%, as the sector starts a new era of consumer regulation.
Housemark’s research also indicates that nearly a third of tenants are not satisfied with their repairs service. Repairs are the main point of contact between landlords and tenants. With social landlords recording an average of 3.3 repairs per property – around 14 million repairs across England – the report says this service is crucial for maintaining tenant satisfaction.
Improving communication strategies is vital, according to the report. Only 58.9% of tenants feel their landlord listens to their views, leaving nearly half unsatisfied and feeling that their voices are not being heard.
In 2023-24, a median of just 33.8% of tenants were satisfied with their landlord’s approach to complaints handling, a drop of 15.2% compared to 2022-23. With the data showing a 14.9% rise in average stage 1 complaint volumes between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the research highlights a possible shift as landlords record complaints formally, in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s Code, instead of using informal mechanisms.
The report highlights that tenants need to feel heard and respected for trust to be rebuilt and perception scores to improve. Key to this is proactively handling complaints and forward-thinking landlords are grasping the opportunity to identify trends and service issues.
Jonathan Cox, director of data and business intelligence at Housemark, said: “While some of the headlines in these results are concerning, it’s important to recognise that meaningful improvements in operational services, particularly repairs, typically take around 18 months to reflect in tenant perceptions. This means that efforts initiated now will start showing results in the 2025-26 TSM data. It’s a reminder that sustained effort is crucial for long-term change.”
“While the current TSM results for overall satisfaction are at a low point, our Monthly Pulse data since April indicates a modest recovery among landlords who have proactively addressed service issues. This is an encouraging sign that positive changes are starting to take effect, and we expect this trend to continue as more landlords implement improvements.”
Additional findings from the report include:
- Non-compliance with the 2006 Decent Homes Standard has increased by 29%, based on a 0.07 percentage point difference: the median proportion of homes not meeting the standard was 0.24% in 2022-23, compared to 0.31% in 2023-24. Local authorities report non-decency rates 95 times higher than housing associations, highlighting deeper issues with public sector housing. With the RSH inspecting stock condition data, a sharp rise in non-decency is anticipated as the quality and quantity of surveys increase.
- Low satisfaction scores for neighbourhood management. And, with a regulatory emphasis on tackling anti-social behaviour, ASB and hate incidents are still less than 60% of the figure from 2013-14.
- TSMs average close to 100% across all five building safety activities, with tenants largely satisfied that their homes are safe and well-maintained.
