Legislation – Renters’ Rights Act 2025
Part 3Decent homes standard
100Decent homes standard
(1)
The Housing Act 2004 is amended as follows.
(2)
“(3A)
This Part also provides—
(a)
for regulations to specify requirements that must be met in England by qualifying residential premises, and
(b)
for the enforcement of those requirements by local housing authorities in England.”
(3)
“(e)
accommodation in England—
(i)
the availability for occupation of which is secured under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (homelessness), and
(ii)
that is of a description specified by regulations made by the Secretary of State, or”
(4)
“(4A)
Before making regulations under subsection (4)(e)(ii), the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
(4B)
The requirement to consult under subsection (4A) may be satisfied by consultation before (as well as after) the passing of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.”
(5)
“Additional standards for certain housing in England
2APower to set standards for qualifying residential premises
(1)
The Secretary of State may by regulations specify requirements to be met by qualifying residential premises.
(2)
The matters which may be covered by the requirements include (but are not limited to) the following matters—
(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.
(3)
The requirements are to consist of one or both of the following—
(a)
requirements which the Secretary of State considers appropriate to be subject to enforcement under section 5 (duty of local housing authorities to take enforcement action), referred to in this Part as “type 1 requirements”, and
(b)
requirements which the Secretary of State considers appropriate to be subject to enforcement under section 7 (power of local housing authorities to take enforcement action), referred to in this Part as “type 2 requirements”.
(4)
The regulations may contain exceptions from the requirements.
2BQualifying residential premises
(1)
The following are “qualifying residential premises” for the purposes of this Part—
(a)
a dwelling or HMO in England—
(i)
which is let under a relevant tenancy, or
(ii)
which is supported exempt accommodation,
except where the dwelling or HMO is social housing and the landlord under the tenancy, or the provider of the accommodation, is a registered provider of social housing,
(b)
an HMO in England where at least one unit of accommodation which forms part of the HMO is let on a relevant tenancy, except where the unit is social housing and the landlord under the tenancy is a registered provider of social housing,
(c)
a building or part of a building constructed or adapted for use as a house in multiple occupation if—
(i)
it is for the time being only occupied by persons who form a single household, and
(ii)
the accommodation which those persons occupy is let under a relevant tenancy or is supported exempt accommodation,
except where the accommodation which those persons occupy is social housing and the landlord under the tenancy, or the provider of the supported exempt accommodation, is a registered provider of social housing,
(d)
any accommodation falling within paragraph (e) of the definition of “residential premises” in section 1(4) (homelessness), except where the accommodation is social housing and the provider of the accommodation is a registered provider of social housing, and
(2)
In this Part—
“relevant tenancy” means—
(a)
an assured tenancy within the meaning of the Housing Act 1988,
(c)
a regulated tenancy within the meaning of the Rent Act 1977;
“social housing” has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008;
“supported exempt accommodation” has the same meaning as in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (see section 12 of that Act).
(3)
The Secretary of State may by regulations amend this section so as to change the meaning of “relevant tenancy” so as to add or remove a particular kind of—
(a)
tenancy that is periodic or granted for a term of less than 21 years, or
(b)
licence to occupy.
(4)
Before making regulations under subsection (3), the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.”
(6)
In Schedule 4, Part 1 contains amendments of the Housing Act 2004 and Part 2 contains amendments of other Acts.
101The standard of MOD accommodation
(1)
The Secretary of State must prepare and publish in relation to each year a report on—
(a)
the extent to which service family accommodation in England meets the relevant standards during that year, and
(b)
the work to maintain and improve the standard of service family accommodation in England that is undertaken during that year and planned for subsequent years.
(2)
The Secretary of State—
(a)
may make the required assessment, or
(b)
may arrange for an independent person to make the required assessment,
in relation to any year.
(3)
If the Secretary of State makes the required assessment in relation to a year, the Secretary of State must—
(a)
arrange for an independent person to evaluate the assessment, and
(b)
include that evaluation in the annual report relating to that year.
(4)
The Secretary of State must lay each annual report before Parliament.
(5)
The required assessment for a particular year may be made by reference to what is, in the view of the person carrying out the assessment, a representative sample of service family accommodation.
(6)
The duty imposed by subsection (1) may be complied with by the preparation and publication of a report which relates to service family accommodation in England and elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
(7)
For the purposes of this section, service family accommodation meets the relevant standards if the accommodation would be a decent home when assessed in accordance with the 2006 decent homes standard.
(8)
The Secretary of State may, by regulations, amend this section so as to make provision about what it means for service family accommodation to meet the relevant standards (which may include provision that operates by reference to other subordinate legislation).
(9)
But that power is not exercisable unless and until, in the Secretary of State’s view, it has ceased to be appropriate for the 2006 decent homes standard to be used for the purposes of the required assessment (having regard, in particular, to whether, or how, that standard continues to be used for other assessments of the standard of living accommodation).
(10)
In this section—
“2006 decent homes standard” means the document called “A Decent Home: Definition and guidance for implementation” that was published by the Department for Communities and Local Government on 7 June 2006;
“annual report” means a report prepared in accordance with subsection (1);
“independent” means appearing to the Secretary of State to be independent of—
(a)
the Secretary of State,
(b)
other Ministers of the Crown,
(c)
government departments, and
(d)
persons who provide, manage or maintain service family accommodation;
“required assessment” means an assessment of the extent to which service family accommodation meets the relevant standards during a year;
“service family accommodation” means any building or part of a building which is provided for the use of service families as living accommodation (whether or not it is provided by the Secretary of State); and for this purpose a “service family” is—
(a)
a person subject to service law and members of the person’s family, or
(b)
a civilian subject to service discipline and members of the civilian’s family;
and expressions used in this definition have the same meanings as they have in the Armed Forces Act 2006;
“year” means—
(a)
1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, and
(b)
each subsequent period of one year beginning with 1 April.