Tenants will have three months to lodge a complaint with the watchdog after receiving a response from their provider
The Housing Ombudsman has finalised its approach to handling social tenant access to information requirements (STAIRs) complaints following consultation with stakeholders.
From 1 October 2026, STAIRs will require private registered providers (PRPs) to publish information about how they run their organisation and spend money, the homes they own, their performance, and the services they provide.
From 1 April 2027, social housing tenants of PRPs will have the right to request information directly from their provider about how their homes are managed.
The consultation ran from 20 January until 17 March 2026, receiving 296 responses from PRPs, tenants, housing sector bodies, charities and council tenants and representatives.
The Ombudsman’s “scheme”, used to guide its operations, has been updated to include information about STAIRs, replacing the current scheme from 1 October 2026.
Under the revised scheme, tenants will have three months to bring a STAIRs complaint to the watchdog after receiving a response from their PRP, or if they do not receive one. These complaints will be handled through a new process, separate from the ombudsman’s existing complaints service. Former tenants who made an information request while still a tenant will also be able to bring a complaint.
During consultation, 30 tenants and four PRPs said the three month timeframe for lodging a complaint was too short.
“There may be many reasons why this is not possible (e.g. illness, mental health, age/infirmness, pregnancy, lack of proper information from the PRP, complexity, homelessness in case of a former tenant) which preclude a complaint from being made to you. It goes against the grain of “fairness” to preclude complaints simply on the basis of strict time limits,” one leaseholder wrote.
However, 66.4% of respondents thought the timeframe is “about right”, while the ombudsman said the new scheme allows discretion to consider complaints brought after three months.
The ombudsman will publish resources on its website for tenants and PRPs ahead of October, including learning materials through the Centre for Learning.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “STAIRs will introduce a new era of transparency within social housing.
“It has the opportunity to strengthen trust between tenants and landlords. It will also support knowledge and information management within private registered providers, encouraging a positive data culture.
“Our casework shows weaknesses in records can be a driver of service failure so the benefits of STAIRs could be extensive.”
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