In the world of social housing, no access is a well-worn phrase. It might not grab headlines, but for operational teams, it’s a daily reality that affects compliance, repairs performance, asset data, and, increasingly, the regulatory standing of an organisation.
Despite years of policy evolution, digital investment and resident engagement work, no access remains stubbornly persistent. It's often treated as a logistical problem, but many providers are beginning to view it as something more – a reflection of trust, communication, and the capacity of landlords to respond meaningfully to complexity.
To dig into this issue, we recently hosted a roundtable discussion with Executive Directors of Property and Asset Management from across the UK housing sector. The discussion was open, practical and grounded in the lived experience of operational leaders. It revealed not only shared frustrations but a growing appetite for coordinated, smarter, and more resident-focused responses.
No Access in Numbers: A Sector Snapshot
The data on no access tells a fragmented story. For gas servicing, most landlords report exceptionally high access rates – often over 99 percent – thanks to established legal pathways and well-rehearsed processes for forced entry. This area is widely seen as under control, albeit with ongoing effort.
Repairs and stock condition surveys tell a different story. Attendees at the roundtable reported no access rates for responsive repairs ranging from 1 to 10 percent. On the surface, those figures might not raise alarms, but in high-volume organisations, the cumulative cost of repeated visits and rescheduling is substantial. For stock condition surveys, access rates drop sharply – in some cases to 30 or 40 percent – especially in geographies with high churn or long-standing disengagement.
Regulatory expectations are evolving too. The introduction of tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) and stronger consumer regulation has placed greater scrutiny on how missed appointments and access failures affect service delivery. This is no longer just an operational concern – it is becoming a governance and reputational issue.
Insights from the Roundtable
1. Gas Servicing Shows What’s Possible
Gas servicing continues to act as the benchmark for access success. Multiple organisations described long-established processes involving staged letters, legal escalation, and ultimately, forced entry. One participant shared that they sign off around five forced entries per month – a number kept low by clear communication and customer familiarity with the policy.
Crucially, these policies have board-level support and have been tested over time. While legal teams may remain cautious, executive backing and customer voice input have created a high-confidence, low-escalation model.
2. Compliance Beyond Gas is a Grey Area
Electrical safety checks, fire door inspections and disrepair work are where access becomes far more difficult. Some participants reported more than 300 outstanding electrical safety checks due to no access. Others spoke of delays in damp and mould works where residents had not reported issues themselves and were reluctant to allow entry when repairs were later raised.
There is also inconsistency in the legal advice received. Some courts are reluctant to grant access injunctions for non-gas issues, particularly where there is no statutory requirement. This creates a dilemma – do organisations absorb the compliance risk or pursue costly and uncertain legal action?
3. Vulnerability Is Often the Common Thread
One of the strongest themes from the session was the link between no access and vulnerability. Residents with mental health challenges, hoarding issues or safeguarding concerns are frequently among the hardest to reach. In these cases, traditional communication strategies – letters, SMS, scheduling reminders – tend to fall flat.
Neighbourhood teams were widely seen as central to addressing this. Several organisations have invested in smaller patch sizes and increased coordination between housing, property and legal teams. Weekly case reviews and joint working on persistent no access cases are helping to build trust and continuity.
One provider shared how neighbourhood officers accompany contractors on access visits, offering a familiar face and reassurance, especially for vulnerable tenants. These kinds of low-profile interventions are often where progress is made.
4. Innovation is Happening – But Not Yet at Scale
Across the roundtable, there were examples of creative thinking starting to gain traction:
- Data triangulation to flag properties with repeated no access, high contact rates, or ongoing tenancy interventions
- Digital key systems for communal entrances to streamline access and reduce key logistics
- Key safes for authorised unattended access with resident permission
- Resident-informed appointment scheduling, including avoiding school run periods or offering evening slots
- Incentive schemes such as prize draws or prioritised investment programmes to encourage engagement
These innovations are often in pilot stages, but early results are promising. The challenge remains scale and sustainability – particularly when internal teams are under pressure and investment is tight.
Why No Access Still Matters
While the roundtable provided valuable real-world insight, it also reflected a broader truth about the sector. No access is not just a practical challenge – it is a strategic and cultural one.
The Housing Ombudsman has consistently highlighted access as a factor in damp and mould cases, disrepair claims and tenant dissatisfaction. Missed appointments and unresolved work erode trust, and can ultimately lead to regulatory intervention.
There is also a growing argument that no access should be seen as a warning sign – not just a failure to gain entry, but a signal that something else may be wrong. Whether it is a resident under stress, a safeguarding concern, or a systemic issue in how appointments are managed, each case of no access provides a moment to ask deeper questions.
In some organisations, that reflection is already happening. Welfare tracking tools, complex case panels and cross-service reviews are helping to spot these signals earlier and respond more effectively. But these approaches remain the exception, not the rule.
Towards a Smarter Response
The challenge now is how to bring consistency, fairness and impact to how no access is managed across the sector. That means:
- Equipping housing teams with the capacity and autonomy to act
- Using data not just to report, but to predict and prevent
- Being willing to test new access models, including consent-based unattended entry
- Continuing to explore the balance between encouragement and enforcement – including incentives, compensation and, where appropriate, recharges
Most importantly, it means keeping the conversation going. No access is a shared challenge across landlords. Sharing examples, testing new ideas, and being honest about what isn’t working is how progress will be made.
One participant summed it up well: “We’re not looking for silver bullets, just smarter, more joined-up ways of working.”
At Neemar Search, we’ll continue to provide a platform for these conversations. If you have a view, an example or a challenge you’d like to explore, we’d love to hear from you.
