CVCLT has had six affordable homes with tenants living in them for a couple of years now. We aim to be an ethical landlord and to manage our homes to a high standard.
So, in February 2024 we surveyed our residents to see how they felt about their homes and the way we managed them.
These are the results. The document can be also be opened here.
Tenant Satisfaction Measures: Performance 2023-24
Overview
In April 2024, the Regulator of Social Housing (RoSH) created a new system for assessing how well social housing landlords in England are doing at providing good quality homes and services. Revised consumer standards were combined with a set of tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), which had previously been introduced in April 2023, into an overall standard.
This standard requires all Registered Providers of Social Housing to collect and report annually on their performance using a core set of defined measures known as Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). TSMs are designed to provide tenants with information about their landlord’s performance. Calder Valley Community Land Trust, as a registered provider of social housing, took part in the RoSH pilot for small organisations, the results of which are shown here.
How did we collect the information about TSMs?
The TSMs include data collection about key performance indicators, as well as tenants’ satisfaction about the performance of their landlord.
Key performance indicators
Connect Housing Association manages our housing properties: they undertake repairs and maintenance and collect the rent on our behalf. So, tenants normally contact Connect directly if they have any problems or require a repair. Connect sends to us every quarter an invoice for their management charges and repairs, which is accompanied by a detailed set of information telling us about the nature of the repairs and maintenance, and how long it took to respond to and complete any work required. They also tell us about any concerns raised by tenants and any complaints made. Occasionally, tenants contact CVCLT’s Executive Manager directly, raising concerns. Therefore, we were able to extract all the data required about performance against the key performance indicators, which were extracted from the information provided by Connect.
Tenant Satisfaction Measures
Finding out about tenants’ perceptions of their landlord’s performance requires collecting data directly from tenants either by speaking to them or asking them to complete a paper or online survey. We chose telephone interviews as our method of contacting tenants, to be managed by Connect. Tenants’ participation was optional, and the survey was undertaken during early February 2024. Following completion, Connect provided us with the detailed responses and a summary to be used for publication. Because of our small number of tenants, we have not shown the number answering each question, to prevent any possible identification of respondents, nor the detailed feedback.
Results: Performance against the key indicators
Summary of tenant satisfaction measures generated from management information.
| Measure | No of relevant dwelling units | TSM calculation |
| Complaints relative to the size of the landlord | 6 |
Stage 1 complaints: 0 Stage 2 complaints: 0 |
| Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code Timescales | 6 |
Stage 1 complaints: 0% Stage 2 complaints: 0% |
| Anti-social behaviour cases relative to the size of the landlord | 6 |
Total ASB cases: 0 Total ASB hate cases: 0 |
| Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard | 6 | 0% |
| Repairs completed within target timescale | 6 |
Non-emergency repairs: 84% Emergency repairs: 100% |
| Gas safety checks | 6 | 100% |
| Fire safety checks | 0 | N/A |
| Asbestos safety checks | 0 | N/A |
| Water safety checks | 0 | N/A |
| Lift safety checks | 0 | N/A |
No complaints (as per the definition adopted by the Ombudsman and RoSH) were made to Connect or to CVCLT during 2023. But it is important that when tenants raise concerns, for example about anti-social behaviour, they are asked if they want to make a complaint.
All of our housing properties meet the decent homes standard, which comprise a set of criteria against which the quality of a housing property can be measured.
A total of 26 separate calls to Connect were made during 2023 in respect of repairs, one of which was categorised as an emergency. The information provided by Connect indicates that all repairs were dealt with promptly, and that delays for repairs, where completion was more than 14 days, were due to parts being ordered, tenants not being at home when the contractor visited, or long-term repairs such as plastering followed by decorating due to a water leak. All of our housing properties have gas boilers, which are checked on an annual basis. None of our homes were required to have fire, asbestos, water or lift safety checks, therefore these measures did not apply.
Results: Performance against the tenant satisfaction measures
All tenants were invited to participate, and five of our six tenants/households participated in the survey. No incentives were offered to tenants to encourage completion. The results shown below use the summarised measures, as providing more detail could allow identification of respondents. The table shows the performance against each of the measures. The first column of this table gives the measure and the second column shows the result of the calculation of the TSM satisfaction measure for each question. This calculation is made by taking the total number of respondents whose answer was ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied’ as a percentage of the total number of respondents who answered the question.
Summary of tenant satisfaction measures collected from tenant surveys
| Measure | TSM as % |
| Overall satisfaction with performance of landlord | 80% |
| Satisfaction with repairs | 80% |
| Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair | 80% |
| Satisfaction that the home is well maintained | 80% |
| Satisfaction that the home is safe | 60% |
| Satisfaction that the landlord listens to tenant views and acts upon them | 100% |
| Satisfaction that the landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter to them | 100% |
| Agreement that the landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect | 100% |
| Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling complaints | 50% |
| Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained | 100% |
| Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods | 100% |
| Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour | 0% |
| Total responses/overall satisfaction | 82% |
We have to be careful in our interpretation of these results, given the small number of participants. Some questions did not apply to all tenants, such as tenants living in Fielden Houses would not be able to answer questions about communal maintenance.
An overall satisfaction rating of 80% is very positive, but the small number of respondents does not allow for a nuanced interpretation, and it appeared that in some areas tenants were not entirely satisfied.
Respondents were also invited to make additional comments about any aspect of their landlord and property which illuminated other concerns tenants had about aspects of their tenancies.
What next?
Several of the responses suggest areas about which tenants are unclear or do not have full information: for example, tenants would like more information about what communal maintenance includes, or how they can make a complaint.
We found this review of performance data, and the collection of the views of tenants extremely useful. We do run consultation events with tenants, and they also receive tenants’ newsletters. However, we feel that the amount and extent of communication with tenants needs increasing. Therefore, rather than organizing an event for all tenants, our Trustee who leads on housing and tenants, together with a Community Housing Officer from Connect, visited the tenants individually to discuss the satisfaction measures, and to address concerns. Tenants found the visits very useful, and concerns raised under the feedback opportunity during the survey were discussed. The visits also provided the opportunity to discuss with tenants ways of improving communications and processes around complaints.