South west shared owners: What you shared in our latest Tenant Satisfaction Measures surveys
The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) were introduced in April 2023 as part of a new system developed by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) to assess how well we’re doing at providing good quality homes and services. The measures are aimed at helping improve standards for people living in social housing, by:
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Providing visibility, letting tenants see how well their landlord is doing. And enabling tenants to hold their landlords accountable
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Giving the RSH insight into which landlords might need to improve things for their tenants
The TSMs are split into five themes:
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Respectful and helpful engagement
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Keeping properties in good repair
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Maintaining building safety
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Responsible neighbourhood management
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Effective handling of complaints
This year our overall satisfaction scores are 74.5% for rented customers and 52.4% for shared ownership customers.
The TSMs help us understand what we’re doing well and where we need to improve and puts our customers at the heart of decision making. Our new regional housing model approach will empower teams to improve customer satisfaction within their localities, using the results from these surveys to understand where our focus needs to be.
In your region, overall satisfaction is 74.6% for rental customers, and 58.1% for shared ownership customers. The themes from the survey were:
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What have we done with this feedback so far?
We’ve made our repairs process quicker
At the start of 24/25, the average time to complete a repair was 27.9 days. By the end of 24/25 the average time to complete a repair reduced to 19.1 days. We always offer the first available appointment to reduce the amount of time customers have to wait for works at their home.
We’ve improved our servicing communication
Missed jobs frustrate you just as much as they do us. This is why we report on ‘no access’. This can be down to the communication around the repair or because been we wrongly left a missed appointment card even when you're at home.
We held workshops to understand the main causes for concern around no access, and we’ve prioritised repairs and gas and electrical services.
| To support with access, we introduced a new series of SMS messages to the main tenant in the run up to the service taking place, meaning you get reminders and a chance to re-book if you need to. And for customers with extra needs, we offer additional contact before the appointment to explain the purpose of the visit and what would take place when we attend their property. |
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We carry out more estate inspections
We carry out monthly estate inspections of all the neighbourhoods where we have homes. In some areas where we have lots of properties, we invite you to join us on these estate walkabouts. This year, we carried out a total of 3,230 estate inspections and 727 of them involved customers.
These visits are a chance for us to check on the condition of the area, pick up on any issues like fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles and general tidiness, along with getting out in the community to chat with you.
Last year we also held 24 community action days with 329 customers joining us to discuss themes such as fire safety, damp and mould and local services.
We’ve invested in our neighbourhoods
This year our Community Funding Panel committed more than £90,000 in funding for projects, ranging from local foodbanks to summer events for children, and community garden space to food-based initiatives.
| And we ask our suppliers to "give something back" by way of a social value return when they work with us. It’s how we use our buying power to generate additional support for our customers and communities. These organisations commit to giving back to our communities through social value, either through a monetary donation or in kind. This can be materials, funding, equipment, employment opportunities or volunteering hours. In the last year, we’ve supported projects with more than £10.5 million worth of social value funding. |  |
We’re carrying out a strategic review of our Shared Ownership services
To make sure we’re living up to your expectations, we’re reviewing our shared ownership model to make sure it offers the most effective support for those seeking a home and those living in our shared ownership properties. We want to make sure it serves you, our customers, in the best way possible.
We have lots of happy customers who have been able to buy their perfect home through shared ownership. But we don’t want to be complacent and our results from the Tenant Satisfaction Measures surveys show that our overall satisfaction for shared owners is lower than for our rental customers, and we want to change that.
As part of this review, in March, we carried out a series of focus groups which told us more about how the defects and snagging processes had gone for those who came along, and ways communication could be improved between us, our managing agents, and the developers we work with.
We'll take the recommendations from the focus groups, along with things shared ownership customers have told us through our customer feedback surveys, to our six project groups who are reviewing service charges, customer satisfaction, defects, estates and grounds maintenance, customer journey and regulatory impacts.
This work is still ongoing, and we’ll keep you updated in our next steps in developing our shared ownership customer journey.
But there’s still more that can be done. We want to use the Tenant Satisfaction Measures as an opportunity to learn and improve our services to customers.
- Don’t forget! The next round of TSM surveys will be starting soon. Take a look on our website for more about what TLF, our independent research agency will ask you
- We’ll keep you updated about how we’re doing to make more improvements to the services you receive in The Hub, which is emailed to you every month or posted to you three times a year. If you’d like to check your opt-in preferences, send an email to hello@abri.co.uk
- You can see our full table of TSM results for Abri here: Tenant Satisfaction Measures
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