The Renters Rights Bill’s Decent Home Standard may involve renovation costs enough for many landlords to decide to sell their property.
The Renters Rights Bill outlines three matters in which properties will be assessed:
(a) the state of repair of the premises;
(b) things to be provided for use by, or for the safety, security or comfort of, persons occupying the premises;
and
(c) the means of keeping the premises at a suitable temperature.
Dave Sayce, co-founder of Compare My Move, says: “The Decent Home Standard seems as ifits up to discretion either from local councils or the Secretary of State so it’snot exactly easy to know whether your home needs work done in order tocomply with the renters rights bill.
“The three matters which they give us helpgive an idea what local authorities will deem a “decent home” but do not outline the requirements that the Decent Home Standard asks landlords to meet.
“Even when inspecting the Decent Home Standard consultations, the requirements that the government ask landlords to meet are mostly up to interpretation, such as ‘Adequate insulation’, ‘Suitabletemperature’, or ‘Modern facilities’.
“The three matters displayed in the Renters Right Bill do give you a good idea of the standards you need to hit. It helps to look at section (b) of the 3 matters that are being assessed and thinking, is your property safe, secure, and comfortable, and judging your own property by these metrics.
“These metrics will also cover sections (a) and (c), as a property will not be safe or secure if it is in a state of disrepair, and a property will not be comfortable if it is unable to maintain a suitable temperature.
“If you are unsure of any of these factors, I recommend getting a building survey on your property before the bill is passed, if you haven’t done so in the last 10 years.”
After the bill is passed, whether your property falls under the Decent Home Standard will be to the discretion of your local housing authority, which will likely be your council.
They will then have the power to enforce any changes by:
- An improvement notice, given to the landlord to fix any issues that they observe within a certain timeframe;
- Emergency remedial action, in which the local housing authority will send their own professionals to repair the property as soon as possible and then charge the landlord;
- The council can issue fines to the landlord, order the rent to be repaid to the tenant for any length of time the property is seen to be unfit, or both;
- Prohibition orders that can be used to ban either a part of the property or the whole property for use of letting.
While a lot of what the Decent Home Standard asks of landlords is up to interpretation, there are some measurable or semi-measurable factors you will have to be aware of when renting out a property after the Renters Rights Bill has passed.
Some of these include:
- The Kitchen must be less than 20 years old;
- The bathroom must be less than 30 years old;
- Fixed heating system in every habitable room;
- Double glazing on all windows;
- Lockable doors for shared facilities in HMOs.
If you are feeling like you don’t know where to start when assessing your property to follow the new Renters Rights Bill, these measurable and definitive metrics can be a good starting point.
Dave Sayce comments: “Leaving most of the Decent Homes Standard up to individual council discretion creates real challenges for landlords, especially those with large portfolios spread across different local authorities. What one council considers “adequate insulation” or a “reasonable state of repair” might differ significantly from another’s interpretation.
“This inconsistency can lead to uncertainty and confusion for landlords who are trying to remain compliant, butdon’t have a clear, measurable checklist to follow. As a result, some landlords may feel it’s too risky or costly to continue managing multiple properties, especially across different councils, prompting them to sell off parts of their portfolios.
“If that happens at scale, the number of available rental properties could shrink, driving up tenant demand and rental prices.
“To avoid this, the government could provide clear, consistent, and measurable national standards that all councils enforce in the same way. Landlords should be able to plan andmaintain their properties with confidence — not guesswork.”
Dave Sayce is co-founder of Compare My Move