Note: Articles on the Renters’ Rights Bill will be continuously updated as details emerge
Last updated 11 October 2024
Read an interactive and user-friendly version of this guide below.
A Decent Homes Standard (DHS) will be introduced to the private rented sector for the first time. This is to “ensure tenants benefit from homes that are safe and decent”.
According to the English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023, 21% of privately rented homes are considered non-decent and more than 500,000 contain the most serious of hazards. The DHS will set clear expectations so tenants can expect safe, well-maintained and secure living conditions.
Currently, if a rented home is found to be sub-standard, landlords can only be prosecuted by the courts, and it is for a judge to decide on the penalty.
The Bill grants new powers to local councils, which will now be able to issue a civil penalty of up to £7,000 to landlords who fail to keep their property free from serious hazards. This is intended to incentivise landlords to make sure their properties remain safe and decent.
In addition, if a landlord fails to comply with enforcement action, they can be criminally prosecuted, and the tenant or local council can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order. And the maximum amount of rent that can be repaid is doubling, from 12 months’ to two years’ rent.
“A Decent Homes Standard has been in operation within the social rented sector since 2004 and, now that it has raised standards there, it is going to be applied to privately rented homes. The reality is that if you are undertaking your current legal requirements to make sure that your property is in good condition, as the vast majority of landlords are, you shouldn’t have any problems. However, around a fifth of properties in the private rented sector do not meet standards. So there will be a challenge for some landlords to raise their game and get their properties up to spec, or face either fines, a criminal record and, in the worst cases, a prison sentence.”
- Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at the Property Redress Scheme
Alongside the introduction of the DHS, will be the extension of Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector. Introduced following the death of two year old Awaab due to mould in his housing association home, Awaab’s Law sets clear timeframes within which landlords must make homes safe if they contain serious hazards. Find out more about what the new law means for landlords in our blog on Awaab’s law.
“Too often the actions of a minority of rogue and criminal landlords have brought the sector into disrepute.
We therefore support measures to ensure every rental home is of a decent quality, and swift action is taken where standards threaten the health of tenants.”
- Ben Beadle, CEO of the NRLA
The Decent Homes Standard has played a key role in setting the minimum standards that social homes must meet since the early 2000s, and in 2021 the Conservative Government committed via its Levelling Up white paper, to upgrade this.
The most recent update before that was in 2006 when the definition of a ‘decent home’ changed to reflect the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), which replaced the Housing Fitness Standard that year.
The HHSRS is a risk-based evaluation tool to help local authorities identify and protect against potential risks and hazards to health and safety from any deficiencies identified in homes, including those in the private rented sector.
Why does the Government believe the Decent Homes Standard is need in the private rented sector?
HHSRS itself does not set out a basic standard for home conditions: rather it only focuses on identifying hazards and mitigating the risk of harm. The DHS would create a legally binding, enforceable standard in the private rented sector that acts in conjunction to the HHSRS framework. Together it is hoped they can work in tandem in regulating rental housing quality.
To be ‘decent’ the 2006 standard said a home should be free of Category 1 (i.e. severe) hazards, and the “existence of such hazards should be a trigger for remedial action unless practical steps cannot be taken without disproportionate expense or disruption”.
Properties must also be ‘in a reasonable state of repair’, the details of which are pretty long-winded but can be read here.
And there is also the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 which requires all landlords, whether social or private, to make sure their property is fit for human habitation at the beginning of the tenancy and throughout – although it’s hard to enforce and requires court action - something many tenants and councils are reluctant to get involved with.
As such, the proposed changes to enforcement action that councils and tenants can take – via civil penalties and RROs – are a welcome step.
There are still questions to be answered on the practicality of the proposals, as it is unlikely that local authorities will have the resources to inspect every property. It is therefore thought that the standards will form part of the requirements for the Private Rented Sector Database, which all properties rented in the private sector would need to be on.
There may be a role for the inventory clerk sector to provide independent inspections.
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