Tenant Satisfaction Measures Report - It's Not About Numbers, But They Do Help
Tuesday 10th of December 2024
So, the regulator released the national tenant satisfaction measures report recently, does it contain any major surprises for our sector? I would say the results didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know but there is still a lot to learn. Let’s look at some of the key takeaways from the report.
Regional Issues
Tenants in London have the lowest satisfaction levels in the country with only 59.7 % expressing satisfaction with their landlord compared to 74.6 % for West Midlands based providers, the highest scoring region. Interestingly those providers who work across multiple regions had a figure of 67.75% satisfaction.
So, what can we make of this? Well London has a long track history to contend with including issues around age and quality of stock, cost and density of design, alongside some quite intensive neighbourhood management issues that all contribute to some significant challenges. As I said at the start, this isn’t new and we know this is an issue, it’s how its dealt with that’s the challenge.
Is Bigger Better?
With current trends around mergers to drive development and efficiencies, the results that show that the smaller the provider the happier people are, will come as no massive surprise. Here at Tpas we regularly talk to tenants particularly from recently merged providers who feel that their landlord has become too big. That they feel a lack of connection and understanding of their needs. There was around a 7% gap in satisfaction between providers with under 5k of properties and those over 40k.
Data
Some of the more insightful revelations of the report came around how the Tenant Satisfaction Measures data was collected and how the different methods affected the results. The overwhelmingly favourite method by Landlords to conduct the TSM surveys were by telephone interviews, mostly conducted by external companies. 65% of landlords reported that telephone surveys were their predominant method of collecting data with the Internet and Postal 2nd and 3rd respectively. Only 4% of providers declared that they used a variety of methods.
The satisfaction levels from these different methods varied widely with telephone surveys averaging 70%, Internet 58% and face to face interviews significantly higher. The most obvious explanation comes from research that shows people are usually more positive when engaged in direct contact. This doesn’t account for the high satisfaction results from postal, however where satisfaction levels were at 77.2%. The fact that often postal surveys are the favourite of older residents who where generally happier in their satisfaction levels.
Complaints Are Key
Complaint satisfaction is the lowest score amongst all Tenant Satisfaction Measures averaging 35%. These results are drawn solely from people who have said they have made a complaint in the last 12 months. The regulator has been keen to state in the report that the number of complaints a landlord receives shouldn’t be taken with caution, as it may reflect different processes such as classification of what a complaint is rather than any other systemic issues.
Repairs Also Key?
The report states that repairs and maintenance is the main driver of overall tenant satisfaction with over 14.3 million repairs of which 3.7 million were considered an emergency repair. It is useful to note that landlords are required to set target timescales for end-to-end completion time which makes it difficult in defining national trends. The variation in the different quartiles is also significant with the lowest at 61% and the highest at 75%.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
Satisfaction that the landlord treats tenants with fairness and respect is one of the highest scoring perceptions TSM results 77%. National Tenant Survey evidence suggests that responses often reflected how tenants felt they were treated by staff when they contacted their landlord. A slightly different story is given however when tenants are asked if their landlord listens and acts upon their concerns with a median score of 60% and a lower quartile of 52%. Additional evidence obtained through the regulators own national survey is that is reflected through service requests and complaints raised by tenants.
So, What Next?
I said at the start that little contained within this report will come as a great surprise and the infuriating thing is that it’s not just about what we discover it’s how we use this information for doing something that counts. We all know as tenants and engagement professionals that whenever people are asked, Repairs always comes top of any poll when it comes to concerns.
We also know that people feel all too often they aren’t being listened to or fed back to when asked for their opinion. These are concerns that have been raised for years in our own providers and we are now seeing, thanks to consumer regulation that tenants are nationally consistent on this.
So, What Do We Do?
First of all we need to tackle complacency head on, I have seriously heard people say, “well these results could have been worse”. Secondly, we shouldn’t just focus on the headline figures it’s the data behind it that matters. Its not about getting a C1 or C2 sitting back and saying, “well that’s ok until another inspection”. We need to be looking at regulatory judgements not just our own but everyone’s and using the guidance inside to shape how we deliver our services. It’s definitely not just about numbers, it’s about how we use those numbers and the data within to create a housing culture that embraces this world of consumer regulation and makes it second nature for all of us.
Caritas Charles - Senior Policy, Innovation and Insight Manager