In the Levelling Up White Paper, the government announced plans for the first time ever, that all homes in the Private Rented Sector will have to meet a minimum standard – the Decent Homes Standard. The standard currently covers all social housing, excluding leasehold and shared ownership properties, and outlines four criteria to define what is considered “decent”:
It meets the current statutory minimum standard for housing
Dwellings which fail meet this criteria are those containing one or more hazards assessed as serious. There are 29 potential hazards assessed under this system with each hazard is given a score; Those with a score over 1,000 will be deemed serious, because they put the tenant’s health or safety at risk, and won’t meet the minimum standards criteria.
It is in a reasonable state of repair
Dwellings which fail to meet this criteria either have one or more key building components that are old and because of their condition need replacing or major repair or two or more of the other building components are old and because of their condition need replacing or major repair
It has reasonable modern facilities and services
Dwellings which fail to meet this criteria are those which lack three or more of the following:
- A reasonably modern kitchen (20 years old or less)
- A kitchen with adequate space and layout
- A reasonably modern bathroom (30 years old or less)
- An appropriately located bathroom and WC
- Adequate insulation against external noise (where external noise is a problem)
- Adequate size and layout of common areas for blocks of flats
A home lacking two or fewer of the above is still classed as decent, therefore it is not necessary to modernise kitchens and bathrooms if a home meets the remaining criteria.
It provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort
This criteria requires dwellings to have both effective insulation and efficient heating.
The review is already underway with Part 1 for understanding change completed. Part 2 started in Autumn 2021 and will run to Summer 2022 and will consider how this decency should be defined.
View The Decent Home Standard in full on the gov.uk website here.
