What does a decent home mean?
So what is meant by a ‘decent home’? Whilst talking about the impending Renters Reform Bill, I have mentioned a couple of times the Decent Homes Standard – and that you don’t need to worry about this change. As we only work with landlords that rent out good homes.
However, I was talking to a landlord recently, who had been told by her tenant that she was not supplying a home fit for human habitation because there was a condensation issue – which the tenants were causing…So she just wanted to understand what the legislation was and what she should do next.
So I thought you might be interested to find out a bit of history and why the decent home legislation has become part of the Renters Reform Bill.
Where it began
It all started with ‘fit for habitation standards’. These were part of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. However, this only applied if the annual rent was less than £80 in London or less than £52 outside London. At the time the figures had not been changed since 1957.
Next, we had the Housing Act 2004 which introduced the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). It looked like a great move forward but, to be honest, it was very complex. The local authorities who were tasked with improving things found it very difficult to take enforcement actions against a landlord as there were so many loopholes.
Also, what the 2004 Act missed, was not giving an automatic legal right to the tenant to live in a home fit for human habitation. In addition, there was a glaring anomaly in that a landlord was obliged to repair a property but not obliged to bring a property up to a standard fit for habitation (unless it was let on a very low rent, or the property was in disrepair). So, if a property was damp at the time of the letting, a landlord did not need to improve it even if it was so defective that it wasn’t fit to live in. Crazy!
This all changed with the Homes (Fitness for human habitation) 2018 which relied on the 2004 Act but provided tenants with a direct route of redress if someone found themselves living in substandard conditions. This means that, now, residential rented accommodation has to be provided and maintained in a state ‘of fitness for human habitation’.
What is counted as unfit for habitation?
Accommodation is considered unfit if it is defective in one or more of the following categories:
- repair
- stability
- free from damp
- internal arrangement
- natural lighting
- ventilation
- water supply
- drainage and sanitary conveniences
- facilities for preparation and cooking of food and for the disposal of waste water
Any of the above is counted as a hazard if it poses a risk of harm to the health or safety of an occupier.
Conclusion
So to the Decent Homes Standard – a re run of the 2004 act with a bit more teeth.
But as I said at the beginning, anyone we work with provides a very decent home, so I really don’t have to give you any guidance on what you would need to do.
And what of our landlord with the condensation issue? We organised for personnel from Environmental Health to visit, who came to the same conclusion as we had – if you open some windows and stop drying clothes in an enclosed environment the condensation will go away.
