Tenants Participation is a way for tenants and landlords to share ideas and co-operate. It's a way for the tenant to be involved in the decision-making progress that occurs during discussions about improving the standard of housing conditions and services.
This is a beneficial practice for both the tenant and the landlord and the idea is to give the tenant an opportunity to voice concerns, share opinions and contibute positive ideas about the housing service they are receiving. Through our work, we also give landlords better access to the community and the opportunity to carry out partnership working.
The Housing Wales Act (2014) made it a legal requirement for landlords to actively develop and support tenant participation. All landlords and local authorities must have a tenant participation strategy with the long-term goal of achieving continuous improvements in landlords performance in supporting and enabling tenants to participate.
Most Landlords now encourage their tenants to get involved with them through a range of ways which may include a tenants’ magazine, replying to surveys or attending meetings. The majority of landlords in Wales have a Tenant Participation Officer and it is part of their role to make sure that tenants are involved in the organisation. Landlords will often provide meeting places, help with typing & copying, organise training and increasingly provide annual funding to allow groups to carry out their work independently.
Tenant participation is for all tenants and landlords. There is not one solution or approach. TPAS Cymru works with tenants and landlords in all shapes and sizes such as registered social landlords like Housing Associations, Local Authorities, through to Private Sector Landlords.