Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the difference in qualification requirements between property managers in the (1) private, and (2) social, housing sectors since the passing of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act introduced a power for the Regulator of Social Housing to set a Competence and Conduct Standard for the social rented sector. The previous Government consulted in February 2024 on a set of proposals which would require senior housing managers and executives to gain a suitable qualification in housing management. This Government committed in September to introducing a Competence and Conduct Standard. We are currently considering responses received to the consultation, and will set out our next steps in the coming months.

For homes outside the social housing sectors, the Government announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 21 November 2024 that it will strengthen regulation of managing agents to drive up the standard of their service. As a minimum, this should include mandatory professional qualifications which set a new basic standard that managing agents will be required to meet. We will consult on this next year.

As this work progresses, we will continue to consider how to ensure appropriate competency requirements are applied across the housing management sector.