In its publised response to a consultation, the government said it would direct the Regulator of Social Housing to require all private registered providers to meet the STAIRS policy statement from October 2026.

Once introduced, the policy will give tenants of private registered providers new rights to access information about how their homes and services are managed.

Council residents can already access information under the Freedom of Information Act.

The policy sets a phased introduction:

• From 1 October 2026, private registered providers must publish information publicly about their housing management.
• From 1 April 2027, they must respond to their residents’ information requests within 30 days.

In its response, the government said: “The Grenfell Tower tragedy was a turning point for social housing. For too long, too many social housing tenants have been ignored by their landlords.

“The government is clear that we need a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of social housing, which ensures that tenant’s experiences and voices are at the heart of our social and affordable housing system.”

Welcoming the announcement, Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said it’s an important right for tenants to access information about how their home is managed.

He added: “We know information sharing appears in many complaints we handle. Complaints could have been prevented if tenants had better access to information.

The government has given us an important new role in STAIRs. Tenants can come directly to us if they’re unhappy with how their private registered providers has handled the disclosure of information. We’ll investigate these cases and decide on whether the landlord has acted appropriately or needs to put things right.

“We’ll be consulting shortly on changes to our Scheme which will set out in more detail our role. We look forward to engaging with tenants and landlords on how we will handle complaints in this area.

“We also look forward to working closely with the Regulator of Social Housing. The Regulator oversees private registered providers’ compliance with regulatory standards to ensure effective implementation of these new transparency requirements.”