March 19th, 2026.



Cabinet councillors today welcomed a comprehensive update on Lewes District Council’s housing services, highlighting rising tenant satisfaction and sustained improvements across several core areas.

This was the first time a full quarterly performance report on housing has been brought to Cabinet, reflecting the council’s strengthened regulatory oversight following last year’s C2 rating, issued by the Regulator of Social Housing. The grade, awarded for the council’s commitment to delivering quality housing services and its proactive approach to improvement, places the authority among the top third of local authorities in England.

Councillor Mark Slater, (pictured), Cabinet Member for Tenants and Those in Housing Need, said: “This report demonstrates the significant progress we are making to deliver safe, reliable and accountable housing services for residents. I was really pleased that we received such a very positive rating from the regulator,  a clear endorsement of the hard work and dedication of our housing teams. I also want to thank the Tenants of Lewes District (TOLD) for their constructive involvement and feedback, which continues to play an important role in shaping our improvement journey.

“We have strengthened oversight, invested in new systems, and put tenants at the centre of how we measure success, and that is reflected in the positive developments we are seeing across many areas.”

Key highlights from the report include: overall tenant satisfaction rising to 67%, up six percentage points since the start of the year; increasing satisfaction with repairs, fairness and respect, and the handling of anti-social behaviour; emergency repairs completed on time, with call handling performance exceeding targets; and rent arrears reduced to 2.46%, well below the national average.

Councillor Chris Collier, Cabinet Member for Innovation, Delivery and People, added: “We are committed to providing clear, transparent and regular reporting so that tenants, councillors and regulators can see exactly where progress is being made and where further work is needed. The improvements this quarter show that our strengthened approach is working, and we will keep building on this momentum.”

The council is preparing to transition to new repairs and maintenance contracts from next month which have been co-designed with tenants and are expected to deliver continued improvements in repairs performance, monitoring and customer experience.