Know your rights as a social housing resident

You have a right to be safe in your home

As a social housing landlord, we have a legal duty to provide safe and habitable properties for our customers that meet health and safety legislation.

This includes ensuring that your home is free from serious hazards, including damp and mould, as required by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), the Housing Act 2004, and the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023.

More information relating to the Housing Act and Safety Rating system can be found here:

• Tap here for details on the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) - guidance for landlords and property-related professionals (opens in a new tab).
• Tap here for details on The Housing Act 2004 (opens in a new tab).
• Tap here for details on The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2024 (opens in a new tab).

We adhere to the requirements of the Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018, which is designed to ensure that all rented accommodation is fit for human habitation and to strengthen tenants’ means of redress against the minority of landlords, who do not fulfil their legal obligations to keep their properties safe. More information relating to the Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018 can be found by tapping here (opens in a new tab).

We also have to comply with The Building Safety Act 2022, which offers customers living in buildings over seven storeys or 18 metres tall more rights and protections. It ensures that buildings are properly maintained and faults are fixed whilst protecting customers from costs. This offers customers greater peace of mind in a safe and secure home. More information relating to The Building Safety Act 2022 can be found by tapping here (opens in a new tab).

Important advice and guidance on staying safe at home

For access to advice and guidance on a range of home safety topics, including fire, gas, electricity, asbestos safety, and more, tap here to visit our online Building Safety Hub.

You have a right to a good quality home that meets the Decent Homes Standard, and a good neighbourhood to live in

As your landlord, we're committed to keeping your home in good repair and ensuring that our neighbourhoods are looked after and are good places to live, work, visit, and play. 

We'll provide you with notice of any visits to carry out repairs or maintenance or to view the condition and state of repair of the premises.

• If you need to report a repair, you can tap here for further information on how to do it.
• For more information on how we tackle and resolve neighbourhood nuisance, antisocial behaviour (ASB) and Hate Crime, tap here.
• For information on our approach to maintaining our land, tap here.
• For details on how we can support victims of domestic abuse and violence, tap here.
• For information on home adaptations and our Care and Repair service, tap here.
• For information on garages and car parking, tap here.

You have a right to know how your landlord is performing

We're committed to being a transparent landlord and showing our customers how we're performing in various areas.

We publish information relating to a number of service areas, including repairs, complaints, safety, and how we spend the money we generate, so you can hold us to account.

Our website contains lots of readily available information you can access, including our annual report:

• You can tap here to read our annual report and other corporate documents
• You can tap here to see our key performance information

You have the right to have your complaints dealt with promptly and fairly, with access to the Housing Ombudsman (who will give you swift and fair redress when needed)

We want you to be happy with the services you receive and we value your feedback. We welcome both positive and negative comments as they help us to improve and learn from our experiences. We want to:

• listen to your feedback, good or bad,
• deal with complaints efficiently and effectively,
• keep you up to date with progress,
• and be open and honest about the process.

If we fail to deliver on our promises, you may wish to complain. If you'd like:

• steps on how to make a complaint, leave a compliment, or make a suggestion,
• details on how we're learning and improving,
• and details on how to approach the Housing Ombudsman (if you still aren't satisfied with how we've dealt with your complaint)..

..please tap here to visit our Complaints, compliments, and suggestions page.

External information on complaints and the Housing Ombudsman

• The Housing Ombudsman is a free service that helps resolve disputes between tenants and landlords and you can read more about it here: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk (opens in a new tab).
   
• Our approach to handling complaints is compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code, which you can read by tapping here (opens in a new tab).
   
• The UK government website also provides information for social housing tenants, including how to complain, and you can access it by tapping here (opens in a new tab).

You have the right to be treated with respect

We're committed to treating all our customers with respect, and we have a range of mechanisms in place that support us to do so.

• Together with Tenants is a sector-wide initiative focused on strengthening the relationship between residents and housing association landlords. To read the six commitments we've made as part of the Together with Tenants charter, tap here.
   
• We have to demonstrate that we meet the strict requirements contained within the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards. The Regulator of Social Housing’s latest Consumer Standards latest standards can be found by tapping here (opens in a new tab).
   
• Before we attend your home to carry out a repair or check the condition of the property, you'll recieve notice from us. Appointments can be confirmed in a number of ways, including, but not limited to, the use of text messages and letters.

You have the right to have your voice heard by your landlord

We want to give you more opportunities to share your views to help us improve our services.

Tap the tabs below to learn more about some of the ways you can have your say, or tap here for a full list of ways you can be involved as a customer.

You have rights if you’re a tenant thinking about buying your Bolton at Home property

• If you became our tenant before 28 March 2011:  please tap here to visit the gov.uk site for more information on the Right to Buy scheme (opens in a new tab).
   
• If you became our tenant after 28 March 2011: you only qualify for the ‘Right to Acquire’ which has a set discount of £9,000 off the purchase price. Please tap here to learn more about the 'Right to Acquire' scheme on the government website (opens in a new tab).

If you'd like a rough idea of the discount that you may be eligible for under the 'Right to Buy' scheme, tap here (opens in a new tab).

For more information on buying your Bolton at Home property through the 'Right to Buy' or 'Right to Acquire' schemes, please phone our Home Ownership Team on 01204 328000 or email:  homeownership@boltonathome.org.uk.

We also have other options if you're interested in owning a home

• Rent to Buy:
  Rent to Buy helps tenants in England save for a deposit to buy a home by offering properties at a discount. This is normally 20% below market rent (source: gov.uk).
  
  For more information on how Rent to Buy works and eligibility, tap here to visit the gov.uk website (opens in a new tab). 
  
  You can also see some of our most recent new build developments with Rent to Buy properties by tapping here. If you're interested in our Rent to Buy scheme/properties, please contact our Landlord Services Team (www.boltonathome.org.uk/landlord-services) or call our Contact Centre on 01204 328000.
   
• Shared Ownership:
  Put simply, shared ownership is a cross between buying and renting a home. You buy a share of the property, usually between a quarter and three quarters, and then rent the part you don’t own at a reduced rate. You then have the option to buy a bigger share in the property in future.
  
  For further information on our Shared Ownership offer (through our 'Stonecross Homes' brand), tap here.

More information on regulation and your rights

Your rights and responsibilities will be outlined in your Tenancy Agreement. It will detail things like rent and service charges, repairs, and acceptable behaviour. A summary of your rights are:

• Right to possession: you can live in your home for as long as you want to, providing you keep to the regulations and conditions of the tenancy.
• Right to Buy/Acquire: you may have the right to buy or acquire your home at a discount. 
• Right of succession: you can pass on your home to someone in your family living with you when you die, if they have been living with you in the property for 12 months immediately prior to your death. This can only happen once during a tenancy (see your Tenancy Agreement for the list of people able to succeed).
• Right to take in lodgers: with our permission, you can take in lodgers so long as your home will not become overcrowded.
• Right to improve your home: you can carry out improvements to your home with our permission.
• Right to compensation for improvements: you can be paid for certain improvements you have made if you move house.
• Right to exchange: with our permission, you can exchange your property for another one.
• Right to consultation: you have a right to be consulted on housing management matters.
• Right to information: you have a right to a Tenancy Agreement and information on your rights. You can ask to look at information that we hold on our records about you

If you'd like to see our most frequently-asked questions regarding your tenancy, please tap here.

For more information on how we're governed, please tap here.

Social housing providers are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing, which ensures social housing providers are financially stable, well-managed, and meet these obligations. For more information on the Regulator of Social Housing, please tap here (opens in a new tab).

If you'd like details on how to access personal data held by Bolton at Home, please tap here.

Here are some additional resources to support you to understand your rights

• Housing Rights is a charity that offers advice on social housing rights: tap here to learn more about social housing tenants' rights and responsibilities on the Housing Rights website (opens in a new tab).
   
• Shelter (also a UK charity) have a page to help you understand your tenancy rights - tap here to view it (opens in a new tab).
   
• Shelter also have a page on using the 'right to repair' scheme where certain qualifying repairs have not been completed within a prescribed period - tap here to view it (opens in a new tab).
   
• The gov.uk website has a page explaining the Regulator of Social Housing's role and what happens when they receive a complaint or a referral - tap here to view it (opens in a new tab).
   
• The gov.uk website also has a page that clarifies the support you can expect if you're a tenant experiencing antisocial behaviour - tap here to view it (opens in a new tab).

Did you know we've made six commitments as part of the Together with tenants charter..?

As part of our ongoing efforts across the organisation to strengthen our relationship with customers, enhance levels of engagement and improve satisfaction, we follow the Together with tenants framework and charter.

The charter consists of six commitments and gives us another opportunity to put customers at the heart of strategic decision-making, strengthen our accountability, and work together to deliver positive change.

You can learn more and see the six commitments we’ve made as part of the Together with tenants charter by tapping here.

To help you understand and exercise your rights as a social housing resident, there’s a government-funded initiative called Four Million Homes

The Four Million Homes initiative offers advice and training to anyone living in the four million social housing homes in England. The main goals of the initiative are:

• to empower you with knowledge of your landlord’s (Bolton at Home's) responsibilities to provide safe and decent homes,
• to enable you to feel confident in reporting problems to your landlord,
• to encourage you to be involved and take an active role in how homes are managed,
• and to help you to know your rights and how to access the Housing Ombudsman service.

To access a full suite of guidance and training on your rights as a social housing resident, please visit:  www.fourmillionhomes.org (opens in a new window).