The Decent Homes Standard — what your landlord owes you
For the first time, the Decent Homes Standard applies to private rented accommodation in England. Previously this standard applied only to social housing. As of 2026 it covers all private rented homes, with enforcement by local authorities. This guide explains what the standard requires, what to do if your home doesn't meet it, and how it interacts with your other rights as a tenant.
What the Decent Homes Standard requires
A decent home, under the standard, must meet four criteria. Each is independently assessed; failing any one means the home is not decent.
It must meet the current statutory minimum standard for housing. This is set by reference to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), which assesses twenty-nine specific hazards in homes — things like damp and mould, excess cold, fire safety, structural collapse, electrical safety, and so on. A home with any HHSRS Category 1 hazard fails the standard.
It must be in a reasonable state of repair. Specifically, the building's main components — roof, walls, windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms, electrical systems, heating systems — must be in adequate condition. Old isn't necessarily failing, but seriously deteriorated is.
It must have reasonably modern facilities and services. Kitchens that are over twenty years old, bathrooms over thirty, with inadequate sound insulation, common areas in poor condition, or layout problems — these can each fail the standard.
It must provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort. This means effective insulation and efficient heating. The standard cross-references the EPC rating in some respects, though it's broader than the EPC alone.
The full technical specification runs to around forty pages and is published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. For most tenants, the practical question is simpler: is the home safe, in reasonable repair, with working modern facilities, and warm enough to live in? If the answer to any of those is no, the standard probably isn't being met.
What's changed for you
Before the Renters' Rights Act 2025, private rented properties were subject to general housing law — the obligation on landlords to maintain the structure and exterior, to ensure gas and electrical safety, and to address Category 1 HHSRS hazards. These continue to apply.
What's changed is that the Decent Homes Standard now provides a positive standard, applied across the entire private rented sector, that local authorities can enforce directly. Under the old framework, enforcement was largely complaint-driven and narrow. Under the new framework, councils have a clearer mandate to inspect and require improvements proactively.
This matters most where landlords have been slow to address issues that fell short of being unsafe but were genuinely substandard — outdated heating systems, persistent damp that hadn't quite reached HHSRS Category 1, kitchens or bathrooms in long disrepair. These now have a clearer legal threshold.
How enforcement works
Enforcement is by local authority — the housing department of your local council. If a property fails the standard, the council can:
- Issue an improvement notice requiring specific works within a specific timeframe.
- Issue a prohibition order if the property is unsafe, restricting how it can be used.
- Take direct action and recover costs from the landlord if the landlord doesn't comply.
- Apply civil penalties of up to £30,000 for landlords who fail to address requirements.
- In serious cases, seek a banning order preventing the landlord from operating in the sector.
The redress scheme described in our other guide also handles complaints about disrepair where the landlord hasn't engaged.
What to do if your home doesn't meet the standard
The first step, in nearly every case, is to write to your landlord setting out the specific issues and asking for them to be addressed within a reasonable timeframe. Keep it factual. Describe each issue, include photos where they help, and propose a deadline for action. Most landlords respond reasonably to a clearly written request.
If the landlord doesn't respond, or refuses to act, three options:
Contact your local council's housing department. They can inspect and, if appropriate, issue an improvement notice. This is free.
Use the redress scheme. If your landlord has been unresponsive on a maintenance issue, the redress scheme can require them to take corrective action and may award compensation.
For urgent or serious safety issues, call Environmental Health directly. They can intervene quickly where there's a risk to health or safety.
How this interacts with the sale process
If your landlord is in the process of selling, two specific issues often arise.
Outstanding repairs. Landlords sometimes deprioritise repair work during a sale on the assumption that the buyer will deal with it. This isn't acceptable. Your tenancy continues until you actually leave, and the landlord's obligations during that period are unchanged. A pending sale is not a defence to a disrepair complaint.
Cosmetic improvements for sale purposes. Some landlords make significant cosmetic changes to a property during marketing that disrupt your use of the home — extended viewings, redecoration during your tenancy, contractors entering frequently. The line between reasonable preparation for sale and disruption to your peaceful enjoyment of the home is sometimes contested. The redress scheme is the right route for complaints about disruption during a sale process.
When your home is genuinely below standard
If your home has serious disrepair, damp, mould, cold, or other significant issues, you have stronger leverage in any conversation about a sale than you might realise. A landlord trying to sell a property that fails the Decent Homes Standard is selling a property that the buyer will have to address — or that the local authority will require the new owner to address. This affects the price the property can fetch, the willingness of buyers to proceed, and the likelihood of the sale completing.
In Umoja's co-operative sale arrangement, the property's condition is documented at exchange and addressed in the agreement between landlord and tenant. The disrepair issues don't disappear — they have to be resolved either before sale or factored into the buyer's purchase. But the framework gives you a route to ensure they're addressed properly rather than ignored in the rush to complete.
Free advice and support
If you're dealing with disrepair, free advice is available from Citizens Advice, Shelter, and your local council's housing options team. Shelter in particular has detailed online guides on every aspect of disrepair law and the routes to resolution.
A decent home is not a luxury. It's now, for the first time, a legal entitlement across the private rented sector. The standard is real and the enforcement is real. Knowing what it covers — and what to do when it isn't met — is one of the more useful things any tenant can take from the new Act.