Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Bill - External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee Report 

The National Assembly for Wales’s External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee’s report on the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Bill has now been published. TPAS Cymru welcomes the Committee’s recommendations and believes that it provides a solid foundation upon which the social housing sector can develop in future.

We are pleased that the Committee considered TPAS Cymru’s evidence, alongside that of others. We believe that in approving the general principles of the Bill, the Committee has ensured that the legislative process can progress so that Registered Social Landlords in Wales are reclassified as part of the private sector by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  This is vital to ensure that housing associations in Wales retain the ability to borrow money to construct new social housing, which supports the Welsh Governments aim of constructing 20,000 affordable homes by 2021.

TPAS Cymru further welcomes the Committee recommendations that tenants should be afforded a greater say in how their organisations operate. In particular we support recommendation 4 –

The Committee recommends that the Welsh Government brings forward amendments to strengthen the role of tenants on RSL Boards which set out a formal process for tenant participation before certain constitutional changes and/or mergers are made.

As experts in tenant participation with more than 30 years’ experience in the field, TPAS Cymru is eager to work alongside the National Assembly, Welsh Government and the social housing sector to see how this recommendation can be taken forward.

We also welcome the Committee’s recommendation that a post legislative scrutiny should be undertaken to ensure that tenants rights are safeguarded, and their calls for the Welsh Government to consider enacting future legislation that would consolidate Welsh housing law.

TPAS Cymru believes that these recommendations are consistent with the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation for further transparency within the social housing sector in Wales. These recommendations, taken together, could play an important role in improving the social housing sector for the benefit of both landlords and tenants in Wales.

If you wish to read the report in full, click here