As you might already be aware, according to the Regulator of Social Housing’s risk-profile report for November 2025, housing providers are facing a complex and evolving set of challenges as they head into 2026, spanning regulatory, financial, operational and technological domains.
Given those challenges, it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of focus on data.
The risk-profile report mentions data 34 times over various sections – this isn’t surprising given that every housing provider, supplier and consultant is saying that data integrity is a problem that’s holding back the sector in a multitude of ways as well as hindering use of the AI tools that everyone wants to take advantage of.
Housing providers such as BPHA have adopted a Microsoft-centric strategy for document and records management, enabling it to respond quickly to evolving legislation such as Awaab’s Law and Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs), all while doing more with less.
BPHA has achieved a single view of its customers, improved internal processes and will be providing external access for tenants via online portals (find out more at the Housing Technology 2026 conference when BPHA will share more about its document and records management project in our session).
The legislative landscape
You’ll be aware that legislation will involve actively seeking tenants’ views, integrating them into strategic decision-making and then communicating to tenants how their views have informed their housing provider’s strategic decisions.
Boards will need to ensure that they are transparent in their provision of performance data and other information to support scrutiny by their tenants and other stakeholders, including collecting and publishing TSM data.
Housing providers’ boards must also ensure they are ready for the new STAIRs policy that is set to be introduced in October 2026 for private registered providers to promote greater transparency and accountability.
The STAIRs policy will require the publication of key housing management data, including information on repairs and maintenance, service charges, anti-social behaviour and energy efficiency.
By April 2027, tenants will have the legal right to request a broad range of information from their housing providers about the management of their homes, including stock condition, health and safety records, budgets and policy frameworks. The regulations also require housing providers to review and update the information provided and ensure it’s accessible to all tenants.
Legislation is being built around demonstrable and evidenced outcomes more than ever before (rightly so, in our opinion). The introduction of Awaab’s Law was widely regarded as a life-saving measure because it enforces rapid action on the hazards that previously caused preventable deaths.
Overall, if you combine the requirements around TSMs to promote transparency and scrutiny and STAIRs to enforce transparency and accountability, there is rather a lot to adhere to, and that’s on top of the already-challenging regulatory landscape.
What we see in the real world
Legacy data and system challenges remain, and most housing providers have multiple data sources, some legacy and some not fit-for-purpose. Large digital and paper-based repositories persist, and while housing staff may be working on documents in Teams, One Drive and SharePoint, the specific documents for Tenant, Property and Person are often accessed in multiple and time-consuming ways.
Replacing legacy systems and adopting a successful corporate approach to document and data management is often underestimated or seen as too complicated. The reality? These challenges won’t disappear, they’ll just get bigger! The goal of Mizorix is to remove the fear factor and show how transformation can be achievable, secure and future-proof.
Legacy EDRM (electronic document records management) solutions often feature limited functionality (running on outdated infrastructure) and are beginning to creak at the seams, with IT teams raising them as cyber risks.
It’s also common for large volumes of paper in boxes or archived storage to need digitising, and don’t get me started on the number of files stored that should have been disposed of years ago.
It’s no wonder that there are difficulties and inaccuracies when this data needs to be reported on (if we’re being honest, sometimes it’s almost impossible):
- If asked, can you provide an accurate SAR and how long will it take?
- Can a tenant remotely access the correct data when STAIRs legislation begins?
- Is legacy EDRM software increasing your cyber risks?
- Can the board be confident on decision-making when data is trapped in legacy archives?
Solutions like Filer EDRM, built on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, can help housing providers to manage these challenges by doing the heavy lifting and automation to provide a data-driven solution to meet regulations and ensure staff and tenants have access to the right information at the right time. Embracing this approach enables you to:
- Streamline document and data management for greater efficiency and control;
- Achieve native integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM for a Microsoft-centric approach;
- Ensure compliance and accurate reporting in line with evolving regulations;
- Integrate seamlessly with line-of-business systems to reduce silos;
- Enable secure, self-service access to documents for tenants via portals;
- Migrate content from paper and digital sources.
The future of document management is changing – more compliance, more access for self-service and a fundamental shift towards structured data (for reporting and AI) are all critical to a data-driven approach.
Find out more by visiting mizorix.com or contact kirsty.marsden@mizorix.com.
Kirsty Marsden is the head of enterprise sales at Mizorix.
