微密圈

Nearly half of social and private rented homes would not meet the government鈥檚 proposals for a new Decent Homes Standard.

First introduced in 2001, the Decent Homes Standard (DHS) has set requirement that landlords must meet to ensure homes are safe and secure.

On Wednesday, alongside a suite of other housing policy announcements, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a consultation on a revised standard which would extend to the private rented sector for the first time.

To inform the development of this revised standard, the department commissioned the 微密圈 Research Establishment to analyse physical survey data from 2019 to understand how the condition of the current stock compares to the standards it is consulting on.

It found that the number of social homes classified as non-decent would rise from 12% under the old standard to 40% under the revised standard. For the private rented sector, the equivalent increase would be 23% to 47%.

The impact assessment estimates full compliance would improve housing conditions for more than nine million individuals, at a cost of 拢836m to the social sector and 拢2.4bn to the private rented sector (in 2019 prices).

The DHS was last updated in 2006, but the consultation said this version 鈥渘o longer sufficiently responds to the significant challenges facing our existing and aging housing stock鈥�.

It said the old standard needed to be updated for a number of reasons, including that specifications for insulation are not in line with current requirements and that it was designed with stock management in mind and would not work for local authorities enforcing the standards against individual private rental properties.

The government is proposing to update the definition of repair in Criterion B to remove age from the definition of disrepair so that components don鈥檛 have to be old to be considered in disrepair, only broken.

It would also require all properties to provide child-resistant window restrictors on windows which present a fall risk for children and introduce a new Criterion E, setting out the expectation that landlords should ensure properties are free from damp and mould.

The consultation is also seeking views on other matters, including homes security measures and floor coverings.

A change of law will be required to introduce a decent standard to the private rented sector, but this is currently being taken forward in the Renters鈥� Rights Bill.

MHCLG is consulting on two possible timeframes for each tenure for the reformed DHS - 2035 and 2037. 

Criterion D in the DHS, which concerns thermal comfort, will also be revised to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) to the social rented sector. 

The department has published a separate consultation on this, which includes a number of different options, prioritising fabric performance, heating efficiency and emissions, and smart readiness to different degrees.

The standards will be based on new metrics established after the reform of Energy Performance Certificates.

Providers will have until 2030 to comply, after which the standard will be regulated by the RSH. This would mean, the MEES would be implemented sooner than the rest of the new Decent Homes Standard, which is set to come into force in 2035 or 2037.

The government鈥檚 preferred approach would require landlords to meet a standard using these reformed EPC metrics, meeting the fabric metric at band C, and either the heating system or smart readiness metric.

Under option two, the standard would be based on the single metric of fabric performance, while option three would require providers to meet more than one metric, but in a way more clearly specified than in option one.

Option four would give providers 鈥渕aximum flexibility鈥� in which standards they meet. MHCLG has published impact assessments on the first two options only. It found that option 1 would result in up to 拢8bn worth of installation and reinstallation costs incurred by providers over the policy appraisal period of 47 years.

Providers would also be hit by up to 拢416m in administration costs, 拢214m in survey costs and up to 拢460m in 鈥渉assle costs鈥� to providers associated with installations.

On the other hand, social housing residents are expected to receive up to 拢10bn in energy savings, and up to 拢800m in health benefits.

There is a negative benefit to society of providers spending money on retrofits instead of new building supply of up to 拢1.7bn.

Both costs and benefits of option two were estimated as significantly lower.

Under both options, the government is proposing a time-limited spent exemption. This would set 拢10,000 per property as the maximum a provider would be required to spend to comply with the standard by 1 April 2030.

If the property did not meet the standard after this, the exemption would allow providers to delay meeting the standards for a further 10 years.

Social rented homes which achieve EPC C under the existing standards before the metrics are introduced or before 1 April 2028 would be considered compliant until those EPCs expire.

This is to support providers who already have multi-year projects to achieve such energy efficiency improvements.

Both of the consultations are open until 11.45pm on 10 September 2025, with tenants, landlords and others invited to share their views.