What is the Housing Corporation?

The Housing Corporation is a public body responsible for regulating Registered Social Landlords (RSL's otherwise known as Housing Associations) in England and for allotting government grant funding for new and renovated affordable rented homes. Its sets registration criteria for would be RSL's and performance standards for them to meet in their operations and housing services. The Corporation reports to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament.

Registration with the Housing Corporation

The DETR will only approve transfer plans if there is a positive tenant ballot and the new landlord is registered with the Housing Corporation.

The Housing Corporation will carry out a rigorous assessment of the new organisation's plans, structure and operational capacity to ensure it meets published Registration Criteria. Copies of this are available from the Housing Corporation.

The assessment will focus on the organisational structure, and the operational capacity to deliver efficient housing services to tenants. The applicant will have to demonstrate sound financial viability, effective board and management arrangements and that it will meet the performance Standards expected of RSL's.

What are RSLs?

RSLs? Are independent, not-for-profit housing organisations which have been registered by the Housing Corporation. Most are social landlords like housing associations or local housing companies but some are charitable trusts or co-operatives.

They all run businesses but all surpluses are ploughed back into community housing to maintain existing homes and build new ones.

The board of management for each RSL is made up of unpaid volunteers and might include tenants, representatives of community groups or local authorities and the local business people.

There are more than 30,000 voluntary board members running RSL's throughout England by directing paid housing professionals to undertake operational management of housing services.

RSL's are now the main providers of new social housing and manage over 1.5 million homes. Over the last decade, over 100 new independent social landlords have been set up and RSL's to manage, repair and maintain over 50,000 homes transferred from local authorities.

How does the Housing Corporation regulate RSLs?

The Housing Corporation regulates and inspects RSLs to ensure they meet all relevant legal requirements and the Performance Standards. These cover:

· Governance
· Finance
· Lettings
· Residents Rights
· and housing Management Services.

We monitor performance by analysing data and financial information from regulatory returns as well as visits and inspections.

After achieving registrations, the new RSL will be expected to comply with a range of regulatory requirements. These are mainly set out in published Performance Standards for RSL's and in circulars or determinations issued by the Corporation.

Performance Standards aim to ensure that RSL's deliver a high quality housing service and are properly managed on a sound financial basis. Amongst other things, the Performance Standards require RSL's to give their residents and applicants more rights than the law demands. The Housing Corporation has produced a series of resident's charters and the "Assured Tenants' Charter" sets out the legal rights of an assured tenant and what can be expected from the landlord. Copies can be obtained from the Housing Corporation or BITA.

If an RSL fails to meet these standards or get into financial or management difficulties, the Corporation can take regulatory action. It has powers to interview and supervise corrective action if necessary. One of its main powers is to appoint board members if it believes the Board needs strengthening and it can also remove board members in certain circumstances. Since 1996, the Housing Corporation has also been able to take action if an RSL is threatened by insolvency, on order to ensure as far as possible that tenants and their homes are protected. To date, no tenant has lost his or her home because an RSL has failed to perform properly or become bankrupt.

You can get in touch with the Housing Corporation at:
Attenborough House, 109/119 Charles Street, Leicester, LE1 1FQ
Tel: 0116 242 4800
Fax: 0116 242 4801

You can visit the Housing Corporation website by clicking here: http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk

The text and links on this page has been reproduced by kind permission of the Housing Corporation.