Anthony Mayer appointed first chair of new social housing regulator » Housing » 24dash.com

Anthony Mayer will be the first Chair of the new social housing regulator, the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords (Oftenant), Housing Minister Caroline Flint announced today.

Mr Mayer, currently Chief Executive of the Greater London Authority, will initially take responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of the regulator, and will become its first Chair once the Housing and Regeneration Bill receives Royal Assent.

He said: "I am delighted to be rejoining the social housing sector and taking this exciting and challenging position.

"I look forward to working to support the interest of tenants. This is a tremendous opportunity to work with social landlords, to reward those providing a top service already and to encourage others to reach those same heights."

The regulator has been set up to listen to tenants' concerns and have powers to ensure they're getting a good service, setting standards so they will know what they can expect to receive - for example, on repairs or tenant consultation.

The Office for Tenants and Social Landlords will have new sanctions to use where tenants are getting a poor service from landlords, including requiring that landlords pay compensation or in serious cases change their housing manager.

Where landlords provide a good service to tenants, the regulator will cut red tape, with no routine inspections and paperwork kept to a minimum, allowing them to concentrate on providing even better services to tenants and building new homes.

The regulator is being created by the Housing and Regeneration Bill currently before Parliament. It will initially cover housing associations, but Ministers will seek to extend it to local authority landlords and tenants within two years of it being set up.

Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint said: "I am delighted that Anthony is taking on the role of chair of the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords. He will bring a wealth of experience to the the role with an excellent track record in social housing, local government and the financial sector.

"The regulator will ensure that all social housing tenants are well protected and enjoy a good standard of service from their landlords, with powers to impose penalties on those who are not maintaining high standards. "

Anthony Mayer is the current Chief Executive at the Greater London Authority, a role he has held for eight years. Prior to this he was Transitional Chief Executive at Transport for London, a role he took on after nine years as Chief Executive of the Housing Corporation.

He began his career at the Department of Environment, before moving on to NM Rothschild and Son, where he became Managing Director of Finance and Administration.