What happened

On 30 July 2026 the Housing Ombudsman published its response to the Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements consultation, known as STAIRs, alongside a revised Scheme (Housing Ombudsman, 2026a).

STAIRs gives tenants of private registered providers new rights over information about how their homes are managed. From 1 October 2026, private registered providers must proactively publish information about how they run the organisation and spend money, the homes they own, their performance, and the services they provide. From 1 April 2027, tenants gain the right to make direct information requests.

The Ombudsman is the official complaints body for STAIRs. Under the revised Scheme, effective 1 October, a tenant must first ask their provider. If no response arrives within 30 calendar days, or the response disappoints, the tenant has three months to bring a complaint. A new process, separate from the existing complaints service, will handle these cases, and decisions will be published on the Ombudsman's website (Housing Ombudsman, 2026a).

The consultation ran from 20 January to 17 March 2026 and drew 296 responses. STAIRs does not reach everyone: council tenants use the Freedom of Information Act instead, and leaseholders who own 100% of their property, resident associations and tenant panels making group requests sit outside it.

Richard Blakeway, then Housing Ombudsman: "Our casework shows weaknesses in records can be a driver of service failure" (Housing Ombudsman, 2026a).

The second date

Awaab's Law came into force for the social rented sector on 27 October 2025, covering emergency hazards and damp and mould to fixed timeframes. From 30 November 2026 it extends to a further set of hazards where each presents a significant risk of harm (GOV.UK, 2026).

Added from 30 November 2026

  • Excess cold and excess heat
  • Falls on the level, on stairs and between levels
  • Structural collapse
  • Fire and explosions
  • Electrical hazards
  • Domestic hygiene, including personal hygiene and food safety

Phase 3 will pick up the remaining HHSRS hazards apart from overcrowding. The guidance is explicit about the gap between phases: a phased rollout gives no leeway on dangerous conditions in the meantime (GOV.UK, 2026).

And the office changed hands

Richard Blakeway completed his second and final term as Housing Ombudsman on 31 July 2026. Andrea Keenoy, previously Chief Operating Officer, became interim Ombudsman on 1 August, having held the interim role once before between 2018 and 2019. The minister decided against a permanent appointment for now and will confirm next steps later (Housing Ombudsman, 2026b).

What it signals

  1. Publication stops being a decision you make. Until now, a landlord chose what to put in the public domain and when. From 1 October the choice narrows to a duty, and the material covers spend, stock, performance and services. Anything already weak in your reporting becomes weak in public.
  2. Your records are the exposed surface. The Ombudsman's own framing links poor knowledge and information management to service failure. A regime built on information requests turns record quality from an internal irritation into a published one, with decisions on refusals appearing on the Ombudsman's website.
  3. Two clocks, eight weeks apart, under interim leadership. Transparency duties land on 1 October and widened hazard timescales on 30 November, while the office setting the tone runs on an interim appointment. Boards waiting for a signal from the top before acting will wait past both deadlines.

Three questions for your next board

  1. If we published our spend, stock, performance and service information tomorrow, which single figure would we least want a resident or a journalist to open first, and who owns fixing it before 1 October.
  2. If a tenant asked us a hard question today, would a complete answer leave the building inside 30 calendar days, and how do we know rather than hope.
  3. For each hazard added on 30 November, do we hold the data to prove we met the timescale, or only the data to show we did the work.

The public record moved over the summer. From October it moves faster, and some of it moves because you publish it. The only question is whether you see it first.

Are you being assured, or marking your own homework?

Sources: Housing Ombudsman (2026a) Housing Ombudsman publishes revised Scheme and consultation outcome ahead of STAIRs, 30 July. Available at: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/2026/07/30/housing-ombudsman-publishes-revised-scheme-and-consultation-outcome-ahead-of-stairs/ (Accessed: 6 September 2026). Housing Ombudsman (2026b) Interim Housing Ombudsman appointed, 15 July. Available at: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/2026/07/15/interim-housing-ombudsman-appointed/ (Accessed: 6 September 2026). GOV.UK (2026) Awaab's Law Phase 2: guidance for social landlords. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/awaabs-law-phase-2-guidance-for-social-housing-landlords/awaabs-law-phase-2-guidance-for-social-landlords (Accessed: 6 September 2026). Statutory dates and duties should be confirmed against the Regulations and the published Scheme before external use.