05 October 2007
Most council tenants whose homes are transferred to housing associations fail to notice much difference in service, the latest Survey of English housing reveals.
Just over half (52%) said the service was about the same as that offered by the council, while 31% thought it was better and 17% worse.
The survey, published on October 2 by the Department for Communities and Local Government, covered 18,386 households in 2005/06. It showed that some 2.2 million households were renting from councils, compared with 1.6 million from registered social landlords.
But it found that many tenants continued to think of themselves as council tenants for a long time following a transfer and that therefore the RSL sector might be larger than the findings suggested.
Fifty-nine per cent of council and RSL tenants claimed housing benefit in 2005/06. The average housing association rent was £71 per week, compared with £61 for local authorities.
Almost one-quarter of council tenants who had rented from the authority for at least two years (23%) said the service had improved, while 12% said it had deteriorated. The rest reported no change.
PFoct2007
