Social housing tenants’ overall satisfaction rises following five successive annual falls

Overall tenant satisfaction has risen year-on-year following five successive falls.

Data from Housemark, collated from 217 landlords, shows overall tenant satisfaction has risen to 72.5%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points on the 71.3% reported last year. The figure had fallen in each year from a high of 85.1% in 2018/19.

Housemark, in a new report on Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), said: “While some of this [increase] is driven by flexing survey methods, management data suggests that landlords are working to develop service performance and improve perception.

Housemark said its analysis of TSMs suggests the sector is “responding well” to the new consumer regulatory regime that came into effect in April last year.

The report compared TSM results for 2024/25 with 2023/24. It found repairs were the “strongest driver of overall perception”.

Satisfaction with repairs increased from 72.3% to 73.9%, time taken to complete repairs jumped from 68.2% to 69.9% and “home is well maintained” rose from 71.1% to 72.8%.

Housemark said the data shows the increase in investment in repairs is “paying dividends in terms of improved satisfaction and better performance”. It pointed to Regulator of Social Housing quarterly survey data showing a 13% rise in spend on existing stock in 2024/25 compared to the previous year.

The data shows complaints have risen, with 49.3 stage one complaints per 1,000 homes in 2024/25 compared to 41.8 in 2023/24.

It said: “Complaint satisfaction rates and volumes have risen as landlords improve services to meet the mandatory Ombudsman code. We estimate that around 200,000 Stage 1 complaints were recorded by landlords during 2024/25 – around 30,000 more than the previous year.”

The data also showed satisfaction among shared owners is more than 20% below social housing renters. Shared ownership satisfaction in 2024/25 was 51.4%, compared to 72.5% for renters.

The report said: “TSM results from 2024/25 show that there is still much for the sector to learn when it comes to improving relationships with shared owners living in social housing.”

Jonathan Cox, chief data officer at Housemark, said: “Twelve months ago we reported that overall satisfaction was at a five-year low and predicted that the impact of the sector’s renewed focus on core services would begin to show within 18 months.

“These results confirm that. Repairs satisfaction is improving, more complaints are being addressed in line with regulatory expectations and the relationship between performance and perception is starting to strengthen.”