Recent housing announcements
Decent Homes Standard
The government has published their response to a consultation on a new Decent Homes Standard here with an accompanying policy paper here.
Changes include adding descriptive definitions of disrepair to the Standard, a requirement for child-resistant window restrictors on certain windows, a requirement to meet new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards and a new criterion relating to damp and mould at categories A-H of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
Proposed changes which will not be implemented include the inclusion of home security measures and public realm components, mandatory requirements for floor coverings
The new Decent Homes Standard will apply from 2035, and due to measures in the Renters Rights Act it will also apply to private rented housing including private rented temporary accommodation, supported housing and leasehold rented properties.
A full briefing from NCF will be sent to members of the Housing with Care Community of Practice soon.
Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards
The government’s response to consultations on new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the social and private rented sectors have been published here and here. For the social rented sector, an executive summary is available with further detail still to come.
In the context of wider Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) reform, the new Standards will be implemented using the new metrics of fabric performance, heating system and smart readiness. The consultation response sets out that:
- Social rent providers must meet one metric of their choice by 2030 and another by 2039. Private rent providers will be required to meet the fabric performance metric and one other metric by 2030.
- There will be a time-limited 10 year spend exemption of £10,000 per property -meaning if £10,000 is spent and it is not possible to reach compliance, the property will be exempt from meeting the standard for 10 years.
- From the date of introduction of new EPC certificates (likely to be in 2026) until 1 April 2028, social rent properties that have already met EPC C on the previous methodology will be compliant for the remainder of their EPC validity period. This date is 1 October 2029 for the private rented sector.
A full briefing from NCF will be sent to members of the Housing with Care Community of Practice soon.
Social Rent Convergence
The government has now published its response to a consultation on rent convergence. This response can be found here. In summary, it confirms that providers will be able to increase weekly rents for their Social Rent properties that are below formula by:
- up to an additional £1 on weekly rents each year over and above CPI+1% from 1 April 2027 and
- by up to an additional £2 on weekly rents each year over and above CPI+1% from 1 April 2028
until formula rent is reached.
Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
A draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill has been published here, with a guide to the Bill here.
The Bill is intended to reform the commonhold model, making it easier for existing leaseholders to convert to commonhold should they wish to do so, and will ban the use of leasehold for most new flats. It also caps ground rents at £250 a year, changing to a peppercorn after 40 years. In place of forfeiture, the Bill will introduce a lease enforcement scheme intended to be more proportionate.
Where leasehold retirement housing is converted to commonhold, the Bill will provide clarity on limits which may be applied regarding the use and occupation of a unit.
A full briefing from NCF will be sent to members of the Housing with Care Community of Practice soon.
Awaab’s Law update
Principles of Awaab’s Law
Awaab’s Law was developed following the death of Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died from a respiratory condition caused by damp and mould in his socially rented home. It is intended to ensure that landlords respond to issues which pose a significant or emergency hazard to tenants.
At present, it only applies to the social rented sector and will be introduced in phases using a ‘test and learn’ approach to implement learnings between stages. No date has been set for its implementation in the private rent sector.
Under Awaab’s Law, landlords will have to categorise reported hazards as being ‘significant’, ‘emergency’, or neither.
Hazards in scope will be all those covered by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), excluding overcrowding. Awaab’s Law is different to the HHSRS in part because investigations must take account of any factors relevant to the tenant (e.g. health conditions, age) when determining the level of hazard.
Hazards covered by Awaab’s Law must:
- a) be a part of buildings or land for which the social landlord is responsible
- b) result from defects,disrepairor lack of maintenance
- c) be in the landlord’s control to fix
- d) not be damage that is a result of breach of contract by the tenant
- e) be a significant or emergency hazard
It is important to note that Awaab’s Law does not negate further legislation which may be relevant to a hazard; existing requirements and timescales will still stand and may require faster action than those set out in Awaab’s Law depending on the hazard and severity.
Social rented sector
The primary legislation for Awaab’s Law was passed as part of the Social Housing
(Regulation) Act 2023.
The first stage of Awaab’s Law implementation occured for providers of social rented housing on Monday 27th October 2025. In this stage, social housing landlords will be required to meet the requirements of Awaab’s Law for all emergency hazards, and all significant or emergency damp and mould hazards.
The second stage of implementation for social rented housing will occur in 2026, where requirements will expand to cover further significant hazards:
- excess cold and excess heat
- falls associated with baths etc., on level surfaces, on stairs and between levels
- structural collapse, and explosions
- fire, and electrical hazards
- domestic and personal hygiene and food safety
The third stage of implementation in the social rented sector will happen in 2027, where the requirements to remedy significant hazards will expand to all remaining types covered by the HHSRS except overcrowding.
Private rented sector
Awaab’s Law will be extended to the private rented sector through provisions in the Renters’ Rights Act.
Secondary legislation will be required to bring it into force for the private rented sector. This is expected to happen between 2026 and 2027.