News

safeagent, the UK’s largest not-for-profit accreditation scheme for lettings and management agents, has submitted a detailed and constructive consultation response to the Decent Homes Standard consultation, which closed yesterday (10 September).

In its response, safeagent demonstrates its desire to work with Government to develop a Decent Homes Standard that is fit for purpose and supports a culture of continuous improvement in the private rented sector.

Isobel Thomson, chief executive of safeagent, comments:

“We fully support the principle that all rented homes should provide tenants with safe, warm and decent accommodation.

“While many of the building blocks are already in place, such as the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)and the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards MEES) – which are both being updated – we urge the Government to publish the HHSRSReview that completed in 2022. This will bring clarity and certainty for the lettings industry about what these changes mean on a practical level.

“The way to drive up decent homes compliance in the private rented sector is not new layers of regulation. The key issue is under-resourcing of local authority housing enforcement and trading standards teams that are tasked with tackling the worst and most prolific offenders. Unless we succeed in tackling under-resourcing, a new decent homes standard could have minimal impact.”

As part of its response, safeagent also encourages government to rethink the overly complex and disjointed nature of DHS Criterion C (facilities, etc) which has led to some oddities. For example, under the proposals every private rented house must be fitted with adequate external noise insulation, but the same does not apply to every private rented flat, and with no indication of how adequacy would be assessed.

Likewise, safeagent sees no need to develop a new home security standard for the private rented sector as every property is different, making an appropriate common standard difficult to achieve.

Ms Thomson added: “Overall, there’s a pressing need to simplify and streamline the housing regulatory model, which will benefit all interested parties including landlords, agents, tenants and local authority enforcement officers”