Government opens consultation on reformed Decent Homes Standard to include privately rented housing

The Decent Homes Standard (DHS), last updated in 2006, acts as a technical standard, specifying minimum criteria that social landlords must meet to ensure their properties are decent.

Introducing the proposals, the Government said: “Everyone deserves the security and comfort of a safe, warm and decent home. Yet far too many of those living in social and privately rented homes have to put up with substandard conditions. Today, 10% of homes in the Social Rented Sector, and a staggering 21% of homes in the Private Rented Sector are non-decent.”

Through the consultation, the Government is testing a DHS that will:

a) act as a common standard for both private and social rented housing as far as possible that can be used by tenants and landlords alike;
b) ensure that focus is placed more on condition of the home rather than arbitrary age profiles for components;
c) go further to ensure good quality facilities are provided to tenants;
d) ensure window restrictors are installed where windows present a fall hazard to children;
f) deal with systemic issues such as damp and mould in a more comprehensive way.

The Government said it would also gather evidence to consider further measures it could include in the revised DHS, eg. that homes are provided with floor coverings at the start of the tenancy, and to consider whether new minimum standards on home security should be introduced.

The consultation also calls for views on:

a) a proposal to introduce best practice guidance to sit alongside the DHS, including information to landlords on some of the ways in which they could choose to go further than the minimum standard set by the DHS.
b) a proposal that the DHS becomes an enforceable requirement in privately rented homes from 2035 or 2037, and a regulatory requirement in social housing from 2035 or 2037.
c) proposals for how regulatory and enforcing bodies should engage with landlords who are unable to meet the DHS for reasons relating to the property, their tenants, or the landlords.

Responding to the launch of the consultation, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: “Decent and safe housing should be the bedrock of the rental market. Any landlord failing to provide this should have no place in the private rented sector.

“79 per cent of private rented homes already meet the existing Decent Homes Standard, despite it not being legally binding on the sector. We want to ensure every rented home is of a decent quality.

“We welcome publication of the Government’s proposals and will engage positively as they consult on them. Landlords, letting agents, tenants and councils need a clear, coherent and workable set of standards to meet.

“However, setting this standard is only part of the solution. Without effective and properly resourced enforcement by councils, the minority of rogue and criminal landlords will continue to undermine tenants’ confidence and damage the reputation of the wider sector. It is time to find and root out poor practice for good.”

The consultation seeks views from tenants, landlords and others, and will run from today (2 July) to 10 September.

Lottie Winson