NRLA responds to Decent Homes consultation

Policy Manager James Woods on the NRLA response to the Government's Decent Homes consultation, submitted this month.

Last week the government closed its consultation on bringing the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector.  

This consultation was the first of what is likely to be one of several fleshing out the proposals in the Renter’s Reform White Paper. 

The original Decent Homes Standard was introduced in 2000 and applied exclusively to social housing. It has four key criteria that a social housing property must meet:

  1. Meet the statutory minimum standard for housing  
  2. Be in a reasonable state of repair 
  3. Have reasonably modern facilities and services; and 
  4. Provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort. 

Meeting this standard has never been required in the PRS before, but criteria 1, 2 and 4 are covered by other legislation such as the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act.

As a result, most properties will already meet or exceed the requirements for these criteria. For example 9 out of 10 properties in the PRS are estimated to meet criterion 1. 

Criterion 3 however was potentially concerning. Properties could possibly fail the Decent Homes Standard if their facilities were too old, even if they were still in good condition.

For example, a bathroom that was installed more than 20 years ago could be working perfectly but potentially fail to meet the modernity requirements. 

The NRLA raised this as a concern in our own white paper earlier this year, where we recommended that the age component be removed as part of a new reformed Decent Homes Standard. 

The Government appears to have accepted this, with the consultation proposing that the Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector should ensure properties:

  1. Meets the current statutory minimum standard for housing 
  2. Is in a reasonable state of repair 
  3. Has reasonable facilities and services; and 
  4. Provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort 

In the consultation a dwelling is considered to fall short of the third criterion if it lacks any of the following facilities: 

  • a kitchen without adequate space to fit enough sinks, cupboards, cooker space, worktops, etc for the size of the dwelling 
  • a main bathroom that is accessible without going through a bedroom, unless the property is occupied by one person 
  • a main WC that is located in the same room as a wash hand basin 
  • adequate external noise insulation for the level of traffic 
  • adequate size and layout of common entrance areas for blocks of flats. 

The consultation also sought opinions on a number of proposed powers that local authorities will have to enforce this standard. These powers are broadly similar to the existing powers under HHSRS, with local authorities able to serve improvement notices, failure awareness notices, etc. depending on the severity of the breach. 

Our response

The NRLA response to this consultation argued that it was important that the Decent Homes Standard be flexible enough to apply across the PRS, and have clear supporting guidance for both landlords and tenants.  

However, we also recommended that a wide variety of exemptions be applied.

This to recognise the specific difficulties that may be encountered due to the wider variety of housing stock in the PRS. For example, listed buildings and properties in conservation areas would be prime candidates for an exemption.  

We also made the case for a cost cap being applied to properties in a sensible manner, tapering based on the value of the property and local rent levels.

Additionally, we suggested that the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard cost cap and the Decent Homes Standard cost cap be combined, with landlords able to apply for an exemption once this cap is reached. 

We recommended that the Decent Homes Standard be implemented alongside the introduction of the Property Portal, allowing landlords to verify their property is ‘decent’ digitally, without creating more documents to serve on their tenants.