STAIRS in Social Housing: What It Means for Tenants — Whether You’re Engaged or Not

Wednesday 1st of April 2026

The proposed introduction of Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRS) by the Housing Ombudsman represents one of the most important transparency shifts in social housing for many years. While much of the discussion so far has focused on governance and complaint handling, STAIRS could fundamentally reshape how tenants access information about their homes, services, and landlords’ decision making.

For tenants who are already active and engaged, STAIRS could strengthen influence and scrutiny. For tenants who are less involved or who feel disengaged from their landlord, STAIRS could make information easier to access and help build confidence that services are accountable and fair.

This article explores what STAIRS could mean in practice from both perspectives and the opportunities and challenges it presents for tenants and landlords alike.

What is STAIRS?

STAIRS is intended to set clearer expectations about the information tenants should be able to access from their landlord. It supports a wider shift across the sector towards stronger transparency, improved accountability, better complaint resolution, clearer access to safety and service information and more consistent communication standards across landlords.

Importantly, STAIRS is not just about publishing documents. It is about ensuring tenants can find, understand and use information that affects their homes and services.

Why STAIRS Matters Now

STAIRS sits alongside other major developments in consumer regulation, including stronger consumer standards, proactive inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing, Awaab’s Law implementation and increasing expectations around tenant influence and scrutiny.

Together, these changes signal a shift from reactive transparency, where information is available if requested, to proactive transparency, where information is shared as standard.

For tenants, that shift could be transformative.

For Engaged Tenants: A Stronger Platform for Influence

Many tenants already involved in scrutiny panels, resident groups or engagement structures regularly request better access to information. STAIRS could help standardise that access across landlords.

Potential benefits include easier access to performance information. Engaged tenants often rely on performance reports to challenge services effectively and STAIRS could make these more consistently available and easier to interpret.

· It could support stronger scrutiny capability. Access to complaints data, safety information and decision-making processes supports meaningful tenant oversight.

· It may create a more equal footing in conversations with landlords. When tenants and landlords work from the same information base, engagement becomes more collaborative and less defensive.

· It could also provide greater transparency around service failures so learning from complaints and service issues becomes clearer and more visible.

However, there are also challenges.

Some engaged tenants may find increased expectations placed on volunteer scrutiny roles. Others may experience more information but not always more influence. There may also continue to be variation in how clearly landlords present data.

Information alone does not guarantee empowerment. How it is shared still matters.

For Less Engaged Tenants: Removing Barriers to Information

One of the most important ambitions behind STAIRS is improving access for tenants who are not already involved in engagement structures.

For these tenants, STAIRS could help by making information easier to find. Clearer expectations about what landlords must publish reduces reliance on knowing who to ask.

· It could improve understanding of rights and services. Information about repairs, safety responsibilities and complaints processes becomes more visible.

· It may help build confidence in landlord accountability. Transparency helps demonstrate that issues are taken seriously and monitored properly.

· It could also support informed complaints. Better access to policies and procedures helps tenants understand what should happen and when something has gone wrong.

This is particularly important because many tenants only seek information when something is not working. STAIRS could ensure they are not starting from scratch at that point.

What Could Change in Practice

If implemented well, tenants may see clearer repairs responsibilities, easier access to safety information, more visible performance reporting, better explanations of landlord

decisions, clearer complaints learning outcomes, improved website transparency and more consistent communication standards.

In short, fewer hidden processes and fewer unanswered questions.

Challenges Landlords Will Need to Address

While the benefits are significant, implementation will not be straightforward.

Landlords may need to consider how information is presented. Publishing technical documents is not the same as making information accessible.

Digital inclusion will remain important. Online publication alone will not reach everyone.

The volume of information may also create challenges. Too much data without explanation can overwhelm rather than empower.

Consistency across teams will matter. Transparency must work across housing management, complaints, asset management and governance.

Tenant awareness is also critical. Information only helps if tenants know it exists.

Successful implementation will depend heavily on co-design with tenants, not just compliance.

Opportunities for Tenant Groups and Scrutiny Panels

STAIRS creates a strong opportunity for tenant groups to shape how transparency works locally.

Groups may want to explore what information tenants most want access to, how performance reporting should be explained, how complaints learning should be shared, how safety updates should be communicated and what formats work best for residents.

This is a chance to influence how transparency feels in practice, not just what is published.

What This Means for the Future of Tenant Voice

STAIRS supports a wider direction of travel across the sector from consultation to transparency to accountability to influence.

For engaged tenants, it strengthens scrutiny.

For less engaged tenants, it opens the door to participation.

For landlords, it creates an opportunity to rebuild trust through openness.

And for the sector as a whole, it reinforces an important message. Access to information is not an optional extra. It is part of delivering good social housing services.

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