Riverside tenant satisfaction goes from strength to strength

Published by Roisin Rowley-Smith for Riverside in Housing and also in Communities

A recent survey revealed that Riverside tenants have maintained their high level of satisfaction with their social landlord, with 82% of them satisfied with its services.

In April over 20,000 people nationwide received a Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR) questionnaire - 5,000 completed the survey.

The North East and Midlands, as well as Riverside’s newest Scottish partner, Irvine, recorded the strongest overall satisfaction levels, with 87% of North East tenants happy with their landlord.

John Wood is Riverside’s group director for housing services, he said:  “We had a really good response rate for this postal survey and I’m delighted with the results.  As a national organisation it’s often a challenge to deliver a consistent and high quality service across the country.  Our aim is for all of our divisions to be as good as the best and we are closing the gap.  Our tenants in the South East reported steady improvements in their overall satisfaction - up 9% over the last three years.”

The greatest increase in satisfaction is with service charges as value for money, up 9% on last year.  This is an area that had been weak in previous surveys.  As a result, Riverside carried out a service charge review to find out more about why tenants were dissatisfied.

John Wood added:  “We’ve been working with our tenants across the country to improve our communication with people about their service charges.  People now believe they are getting a better value for money service.”

Significant increases in satisfaction with service charges were recorded in some areas - North East increased by 26%, Midlands by 16% and the South East by 10%.

Finally, seven out of every ten tenants and residents have, or would, recommend Riverside to friends and family.