Social housing compliance checklist for England

A social landlord in England needs a living control record, not a one-off stack of certificates. Use this checklist to assign an owner for the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) consumer standards, understand the condition and safety of homes, triage and resolve hazards and repairs, handle tenant information and complaints, and prove what happened for each home. A tick alone is not evidence that a duty has been met. Link each item to the current standard, the asset or case record, the person responsible, and the next action.

This template is for registered providers and other social landlords operating in England to adapt with their legal, asset and tenant teams. The RSH regulatory standards collection was updated on 1 October 2026, including a revised Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, a new Competence and Conduct Standard and revised Consumer Standards Code of Practice. Awaab's Law Phase 1 is in force for emergency hazards and significant damp and mould hazards. Phase 2 is scheduled for 30 November 2026 and expands the significant-hazard categories. Do not implement Phase 2 as already in force on 5 October. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different regulators and housing law; this is not a UK-wide statutory schedule.

Before using the checklist

Define the entity and stock in scope. A housing association, local-authority landlord, arm's-length manager and contractor may perform different activities, but the regulated landlord must still understand and assure the outcomes for its homes. Separate landlord accountability from an agent's or contractor's assigned tasks. Record each property's tenure, building type, shared or communal areas, managing party, relevant higher-risk-building status and known vulnerabilities. The exact safety regime can differ by asset. Get specialist advice for fire, structural, electrical, gas, lifts, water and asbestos matters; a general checklist does not prescribe a certificate for every building.

For every control below, record:

An “unknown” is a work item, not a green status. Build an exception report so missing, overdue and inaccessible records are visible to responsible leaders.

1. Governance and regulatory standards

The RSH's current standards collection sets outcomes, not one universal checklist of annual PDFs. Confirm which consumer standards apply to your organisation and review their current text and code of practice. The economic standards apply differently to local authorities and private registered providers; do not copy a housing association's financial-regulation list to a council without checking scope.

Keep the Consumer Standards Code of Practice alongside the current standards. It helps interpret outcomes, including legal health-and-safety obligations. A software score cannot substitute for regulatory judgement, competent inspections or working controls.

2. Know the condition and safety of every home

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to understand and manage the condition and safety of their stock. Use up-to-date, risk-informed survey data; do not rely on a historic certificate that covers only one installation. Record the survey scope, access limitation, assessor competence, condition, hazards, actions and reinspection trigger. Include homes that were not accessed in an explicit follow-up queue. If a home or block has high-risk features, escalate to the relevant specialist and statutory framework.

Do not treat these rows as a claim that a landlord needs six identical “certificates” at every home. Duties attach to the actual asset, equipment, common parts and tenancy. A block with lifts, an individual house and a higher-risk residential building require different control maps. The RSH Code of Practice points to gas, fire, electrical, water, lift, asbestos and alarms among legal requirements, without turning them into one blanket renewal cycle.

3. Awaab's Law: triage, investigate, act and communicate

As at 5 October 2026, the government's Awaab's Law collection for England says Phase 1, in force since 27 October 2025, covers all emergency hazards and significant damp and mould hazards. Phase 2 is scheduled for 30 November 2026; it will add significant hazards involving excess cold/heat, falls, structural collapse, fire/explosions, electrical hazards and domestic hygiene. The current landlord guidance for Phase 1 remains in effect until the end of 29 November 2026. Do not blend the two phases or apply one timeline to every complaint.

Use a case-level log:

Build the statutory timers from the current government guidance and regulations, not from a generic page or a single spreadsheet formula. A serious report should be triaged promptly even if classification is not yet certain. The duty is to achieve a safe outcome and maintain tenant communication, not merely to meet a dashboard deadline. The Phase 2 hazards guidance annex is for planning the 30 November expansion; its application date must be checked at publication.

4. Repairs, contractors and quality of completion

For repairs outside Awaab's Law, the landlord still needs a process to prioritise, resource, complete and verify work under the current standards and other applicable law. Assign an action owner and priority based on risk and tenant impact. Record how a contractor was chosen, what property information and hazards were exchanged, access and appointments, scope changes, inspection results and tenant communication. A contractor marking a job “complete” is not enough where the underlying hazard remains.

Ask: Can we identify repeat complaints about the same damp source, fire door, leak or electrical fault? Are temporary works being mistaken for permanent completion? Can a resident who could not provide access be contacted through a safe, documented route? Do we know which open work orders are overdue and why? Are residents told how to report a failure or seek redress?

5. Tenants, complaints and transparency

The revised Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard took effect 1 October 2026. Check its current requirements for accessible information, tenant influence, complaints and performance information. The housing provider also needs to meet the applicable Housing Ombudsman complaints framework; maintain a separate source map for current Code deadlines rather than guessing them here.

Do not assume that a survey response or satisfaction score proves a building is safe. Compare sentiment with repairs, inspection results, complaint patterns, access barriers and outstanding hazards. Preserve an audit trail of how tenant feedback caused action.

6. Monthly assurance and an escalation test

Each month, sample properties and cases across building types and risk levels. Include an emergency-hazard report, a significant damp/mould case, a non-accessed safety check, an overdue corrective action, a complaint and a recently completed repair. Ask a manager to retrieve the record without prior warning. Can they explain what happened, who acted, whether the tenant was kept informed, which standard applied, what remains open, and why the home is safe now? If not, the system needs correction even if every summary cell is green.

Track exceptions by severity and age, not just completion percentage. Escalate a systemic data gap—such as unknown fire-door coverage or unresolved damp cases—to the governing body with a remediation plan, deadline and named owner. Confirm contractors and managing agents send records into the landlord's assurance system. Close a row only when the action and evidence are verified; retain the history of a defect and its correction.

Complys and this checklist

The Complys social housing page is a relevant commercial destination for property and document oversight. It currently makes many specific claims about RSH readiness scoring, “big six” tracking, Awaab's Law timing, complaints, contractor approval, pricing and trials. Those claims require current implementation and commercial verification before use in this checklist or any published CTA. This template does not say that software determines legal compliance, meets regulatory outcomes, manages every statutory clock, or substitutes for competent assessment and tenant-facing action. A landlord should use a verified system to keep evidence, ownership and due actions visible, then exercise professional and regulatory judgement.

For a more general property view, link to the existing property compliance software page only after its own product and URL check. This checklist should own the England social landlord's cross-standard control task, not repeat a commercial feature inventory.

Sources, owner and writer-side QA

Terminal writer-side disposition: READY.