Introduction
Including tenants, people who are homeless, other people who use social housing services and their representatives in what we do is key to our work.
During 2026/27, we will build on what we’ve done before to make sure we understand, involve, and communicate well with tenants and service users. We explain here how we will do this.
You can find out how we have listened to and included tenants and service users in recent years by following the links in each section of this strategy and by reading our annual reports.
What we will do in 2026-2027
Our (corporate) strategy shows our strong commitment to empowering tenants and service users and making sure tenants’ views are heard. These principles guide everything we do. The actions in this document will help us achieve this, alongside our wider work.
Tenants and other service users all have different needs and priorities. We aim to understand these and reflect them in our work. We also have a legal duty to think about how our work affects different groups of people, and we will consider these fully in the activities described here.
We categorise how we include tenants and service users in our work into three key objectives:
- Understand tenants’ and service users’ priorities and views
- Involve tenants in our regulation
- Communicate with tenants’ and service users about our work
Understand tenants’ and service users’ priorities and views
We will continue to create opportunities for tenants and service users to engage with us directly and regularly. This will help make sure our work reflects their views and priorities. We will do this by:
- Gathering feedback from our National Panel of Tenants and Service Users
The National Panel is one of the ways that we hear from tenants and others who use social landlord services. Panel members receive occasional surveys and invitations to take part in other feedback exercises. This allows them to share their experiences and views on issues affecting social landlord services. We aim to run at least one survey and one other feedback exercise each year; and we publish reports based on what Panel members tell us.
The Panel has existed since 2013 and has around 450 members; many of whom are not involved in any other formal engagement on social housing issues. You can ask to join the Panel at any time.
Find out more about the Panel and how to join, and read the Panel’s reports.
- Meeting with our Tenants Together (Scotland) Scottish Housing Regulator Liaison Group
We aim to meet quarterly with our Tenants Together (Scotland) Scottish Housing Regulator Liaison Group. The group is made up of members of Tenants Together (Scotland) and gives us a direct, regular way to speak with tenant representatives from across Scotland.
At these meetings, we discuss relevant policy consultations and the work of both SHR and Tenants Together (Scotland). This helps us stay focused on the issues that matter most to tenants and supports the work of both organisations.
Involve tenants in our regulation
We will involve tenants directly in our regulation work to help make sure we understand their perspective and stay focused on the issues that matter most to them.
- Tenant Advisors
Tenant Advisors are tenants & Gypsy/Traveller site residents of social landlords, who volunteer to participate in the regulation work of SHR. They live across Scotland and have a range of life experiences. As independent volunteers, they give an unbiased tenant view on landlords and on SHR’s work.
We ask Tenant Advisors to take part in up to four activities each year. These may include testing landlord services, reviewing SHR draft publications to ensure they are clear and accessible, or joining group discussions to assess the quality of services provided by social landlords and SHR.
We have worked with Tenant Advisors since 2011. Our current group was recruited in April 2026 and will be in place for a period of around three years.
Find out more about our tenant advisors’ work.
- Board Members who are tenants
We are led by a Board of non-executive members, appointed by Scottish Ministers. The Board sets our strategic direction and ensures we focus on the right things. We currently have two board members who are tenants who provide a unique perspective to our work.
Communicate with tenants’ and service users about our work
We make sure the information we publish about landlords and about our work is relevant and easy to access. We use different ways to communicate because this helps us reach more people:
- Engaging with tenant representatives
We are committed to offering attendance at key tenant events and major conferences hosted by tenant support organisations, so we can share ideas and hear feedback. Here we will talk openly about the issues tenants tell us matter most.
- Hearing from the diverse groups of people we regulate to protect
We want to hear from all the groups we regulate, including tenants, people who are homeless, Gypsy/Travellers and others who use social landlord services. To ensure that people can readily approach us and feel comfortable sharing their views, we aim to provide clear and accessible routes for people to contact us.
We will continue to build and maintain relationships with tenant groups, support organisations and representative bodies so that people know how to get in touch and can contribute their experiences and feedback about how we regulate.
We provide a factsheet for tenants on how to deal with landlord problems.
- Using our website and social media to communicate
We regularly update our website to make our information as accessible as possible. Our website has a dedicated area for tenants, where we:
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- explain how we regulate in a clear, accessible way;
- publish landlord data in open and easy to use formats;
- provide tools to help tenants understand, compare and challenge their
landlord’s performance;
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- explain how to complain and how to report a serious concern to us;
- explain how tenants are included in SHR’s work
- use other methods, such as short videos, and a plain language guide to explain what we do and the commonly used terms in social housing.
- provide links to our thematic reviews which are on topics which are of interest to tenants.
We also use social media to promote new publications and announcements and to direct people to our website.
Most of our publications are available online. Where we can, we will make small numbers of printed copies available if you ask for them.
Watch our short video about how we include tenants and service users in our work
We've made a short video that sets out how we include tenants and service users in our work.
Watch our video 'How we include tenants and service users in our work'