The NFA board has agreed to join the NHF-led steering group Knowing our Homes, working to establish a shared, standardised approach across the social housing sector for gathering and using information about property condition and residents.

The board has also instructed the NFA to link this work to the revised Decent Homes Standard and LAHS returns made to DLUHC, disseminating good practice from our own case study work on stock condition surveys, data strategies and management.   

This means that the NFA survey sent out to members today will be a key element of efforts to improve data from the local authority side of the social housing sector.  

The overall aim is to help social landlords to meet the likely new requirements from the revised Consumer Standards which set higher expectations for how landlords gather and use information about their homes and their residents.

The survey asks how data on council-owned stock is being gathered and used. It examines approaches to stock condition surveys, other sources of property information and the information councils and their ALMO housing management organisations hold on residents.

Policy Director Chloe Fletcher said: “The Regulator has been clear, in its new Consumer Standards, that registered providers must have an accurate record at an individual property level of the condition of their stock, based on a physical assessment of all homes – and they must keep this up to date. Stock condition surveys will form an important part of this work.”

The NFA will also be joining the CIH-led best practice group on repairs and maintenance to make ALMO voices and the views of their tenants heard. Meanwhile discussions with the CIH, RSH and DLUHC on professionalisation, staff conduct and competency will continue and the NFA will work closely with its members to seek their views.. 

Much best practice in the ALMO sector is already captured in a series of NFA publications such as Tenant Voice and Every Voice Counts, which summarises the ALMO approach to tenant engagement. The recently published Critical Friends publication on the role of tenant scrutiny panels outlines the principles we believe all ALMOs should seek to embody within their tenant scrutiny models.