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:
-
increase the fees social landlords pay, to recover the full
cost of regulation including its expanded consumer remit.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 to editors
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
The full suite of consultation material – including the
questions, proposed fee principles and proposed fee levels –
is available on RSH’s website.
-
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.
