Tenant satisfaction plunges to new low

This year's Survey of English Housing from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has revealed that only two out of every three council tenants are satisfied with their landlord. In 1994, four out of five were satisfied with their landlord. Among housing association tenants, three-quarters were satisfied this year, down from more than eight out of ten in 1994.

The annual survey interviews about 2000 households face-to-face.

It found this year that that two-thirds of social housing tenants have incomes of less than £200 a week.

Their homes are overwhelmingly in the two lowest council tax bands, and one in 10 has no central heating.

The proportion of households that are council tenants has fallen from 30% to 14% during the past two decades.

In the same period, owner-occupation has reached a new high of 71%, up from 57%.

A quarter of council tenants and a third of housing association tenants have lived in their present tenure for less than three years.

But while the number of households in their present home for under a year has halved for council tenants, in housing associations it continues to rise.

Northern Housing Consortium chief executive John Moralee said social housing was becoming increasingly outdated. "Customers' aspirations are rising faster than the housing and environment can be improved," he said.