Understanding STAIRs

(Social Tenants Access to Information Requirements)

The government has introduced a new set of rules called Social Tenants Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs). These rules will be monitored and enforced by the Regulator of Social Housing.

STAIRs have been brought in because, after tragic events such as the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and the death of Awaab Ishak in 2020, it became clear that some housing association residents were not always given the information they needed to challenge unsafe or poor housing conditions.

STAIRs aims to change this.
It is designed to:

• Make it easier for you to access important information about your home and the services you receive
• Give you clearer insight into how your landlord operates
• Help you hold us to account if something isn’t right

These new requirements bring housing associations more in line with local councils, whose tenants already have access to information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).

We’d love to hear your views

Please take a few minutes to complete our short survey by clicking here (also found at the bottom of this page).

Your feedback will help us prepare for the new STAIRs requirements and understand what types of information residents are most likely to request in future.

As a thank you for your time, you’ll have the opportunity to be entered into a £50 prize draw.

The survey closes on 24 February, so please send us your feedback by this date.

How STAIRs will be introduced

STAIRs will be rolled out in two stages.

Stage 1: Publication of key information (by October 2026)

By October 2026, we will publish important information about how we run our services. See the lifecycle section of this page (found in the right hand tabs) for information on what information this will include.

Stage 2: Your right to request information (from April 2027)

From April 2027, you will have a legal right to request information from us about how we manage your social housing. See the Lifecyle section on this page (found in the right hand tabs) for information about what this will include.

When a request may be refused

There may be times when we cannot provide the information requested. This could be because:

• The information is commercially sensitive, confidential, or contains personal data that cannot be shared under General Data Protection Regulation UK (GDPR UK)
• The request is unclear
• We cannot confirm the identity of the person making the request
• Responding would require more than 18 hours of staff time to collate the information requested
• The same request has been submitted repeatedly
• The request is offensive or made in an abusive way.

If you have a complaint

STAIRs will be overseen by the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS). If you have a complaint about the publication scheme or about your own information request, please contact Southern Housing first so we can review it. If you’re not satisfied with the outcome, you can then escalate your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.