Government Response to the Decent Homes Standard
The Government’s response to the consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard signals a clear intention to raise the minimum quality of rented homes across England and, for the first time, to apply the same basic standard to both social housing and the private rented sector.
In straightforward terms, the Government is saying that every rented home should be safe, warm, in good repair, and free from serious hazards such as damp and mould, regardless of who the landlord is.
What is changing?
Until now, the Decent Homes Standard has only applied to social housing. The Government has confirmed that it will be extended to the private rented sector as part of wider housing reform.
This means private landlords will be expected to meet a defined quality benchmark that has previously only applied to councils and housing associations.
Two Significant Government Consultations for the Property Sector
Body responsible for the consultation: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Duration: This consultation will last for 10 weeks from Wednesday 2 July 2025 to 11.45pm on Wednesday 10 September 2025.Consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes.
Awaab's Law and Social Housing
The Government has announced the forthcoming implementation of Awaab's Law, which will take effect for the social housing sector from October 2025. Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister, confirmed that:- “We intend to act as quickly as possible to bring all relevant hazards within the scope of new legal requirements, but to ensure its effective implementation we will implement Awaab’s Law through a phased approach.”
Renters Reform - What will this mean for the PRS?
A lot of discussion has taken place since June 2022 when the government announced that the PRS would be Levelled Up, but what does that actually mean in practice and how will the Renters Reform Bill impact landlords, tenants and the PRS?
Firstly, one of the key points to consider is to ignore the trade press and national press who lead with headlines and never factor in the detail.
Abolishing Section 21
A lot of emphasis has been placed on ‘no fault Evictions’ when in fact what should actually be referred to is the service of notice to obtain vacant possession’. There is no way of evicting a tenant just by serving a section 21 and to clarify, the eviction process takes a lot longer than a mere two months.
The Section is the first step to a landlord gaining possession but with ‘no reason’ given, therefore the abolition of this notice will mean that the landlord will be required to state ‘grounds’ (reasons) should they wish to regain possession. This would require Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (1996) to be amended.