Property Condition and Decent Standards

Most landlords make sure that the houses and flats they rent out are safe and secure, warm and dry. But some landlords do not, and this means that some tenants live in dangerous or unhealthy conditions. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires landlords to ensure that their rental properties are ‘fit for human habitation’, which means that they are safe and free from hazards.

The Act works alongside the Housing Act 1985 and the Housing Act 2004 - Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) which form the basis for ensuring that rented property reaches a certain standard. The private rented sector white paper outlined the measures that will require rented properties to be free from serious health and safety hazards, and landlords to keep homes in a good state of repair so renters have clean, appropriate and useable facilities.