Uptick in tenant satisfaction with social landlords

Median tenant satisfaction levels have increased by 1.7 percentage points year-on-year, according to a survey of social landlords.

Benchmarking firm Housemark said the year-end median figure for tenant satisfaction with English landlords has crept up from 72.8% in 2023/24 to 74.5% in 2024/25.

It said: ”We have been tracking satisfaction levels for a group of landlords who collect data on a monthly or quarterly basis. Compared to the whole sector, landlords with systems set up to capture perception on a regular basis tend to report higher satisfaction levels. This is often due to a stronger leadership focus on monitoring regular data and a desire to measure and deliver in-year improvements.”

Housemark said the average number of complaints received by UK social landlords has increased by “over 55%” since April 2023. However the report does not make clear the actual number of complaints in each of the past three years.

The data and insight company attributed the rise to more proactive complaints regulation introduced in 2024/25, and additional powers for the Ombudsman, which led many landlords to increase their capacity to log and resolve service failures.

However, Housemark estimated that around half of English social landlords are under-reporting complaints due to managers having varying interpretations of “service request” and “formal complaint”.

In Scotland, where there is no equivalent for “service request”, a greater number of complaints are recorded and resolved within timescale. In the financial year 2024/25, Scotland resolved 92.6% of stage one and two complaints on time, while the rest of the UK fixed 89.2%.

Housemark’s Monthly Pulse Report also said that leadership teams tend to apply a “polarity” to complaints measures and view a low number of formal complaints and upheld complaints as positive. The report was based on data from 164 social landlords.