The Regulator of Social Housing has today (Tuesday 5 September) launched a consultation on proposed changes to way it charges fees to social landlords.
RSH is gearing up for the biggest change to social housing regulation in a decade, including regular inspections of larger social landlords (including councils). The proposed changes to RSH's fee principles are designed to ensure it has the resources, skills and capacity to deliver its new, proactive consumer role, building on its existing regulation of landlords' viability and governance.
The consultation follows an announcement by the government that, from July 2024, social landlords will need to pay for the full costs of their regulation, in line with many other regulated sectors. The Social Housing Regulation Act, which received Royal Assent in July 2023, gives new fee-charging powers to RSH to ensure it can deliver its expanded role.
RSH is proposing to:
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increase the fees social landlords pay, to recover the full cost of regulation including its expanded consumer remit.
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continue to charge a flat annual fee to smaller housing associations (those with fewer than 1,000 homes), and charge larger social landlords for each social home they provide.
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start charging fees to councils owning over 1,000 homes - this is in response to the government's requirements on funding and because councils will be included in the new programme of regulatory inspections.
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charge organisations when they apply to become registered social landlords (instead of the current approach where landlords pay fees after they have successfully registered).
The consultation is running for 8 weeks, finishing on Tuesday 31 October 2023.
Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of RSH, said:
"Our stronger regulatory remit will empower tenants and help us to hold social landlords to account. We need to make sure we have the resources to deliver this expanded remit, building on our regulation of landlords' governance and viability."
"That is why we're proposing changes to our fee principles, and we encourage landlords, tenants and others in the sector to respond to this consultation."
Notes
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RSH is consulting on its fee principles and giving an indication of the new fees it will charge to social landlords. The fee principles set out the way RSH charges its fees. Changes to the fee principles require a statutory consultation and approval from the Secretary of State. The exact fee levels will be confirmed following the consultation.
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Currently the regulator is funded through a combination of fees and government grants. Proactive regulation of the economic standards is funded by fees, while other activities including enforcement and reactive consumer regulation are currently covered by government grant. The government has announced that, from 1 July 2024, RSH will be fully funded through fees.
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Subject to this consultation and approval by the Secretary of State, the revised fee principles and changes to the fees regime will apply from 1 July 2024.
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The full suite of consultation material - including the questions, proposed fee principles and proposed fee levels - is available on RSH's website.
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RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver and maintain homes of appropriate quality that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.
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