5 reasons we need legislation to make homes safe
Why MPs should get behind the private member’s bill on fitness for human habitation
8.4 million households live in rented accommodation in England. This includes a growing number of vulnerable groups, including children, elderly and disabled people.
The current laws that set out whether homes can be considered fit for human habitation are effectively useless — applying only where rent is less than £52 per year, or £80 in London.
This Bill will bring legislation up to date so all tenants are protected. It’s Parliament’s third attempt in the last few years to bring housing rights in line with the basic safety expectations we’d expect in the workplace, or in the products we buy. But there are plenty of other reasons MPs should back it.
1. 8.4 million tenants will be safer
As the number of renters in England grows, so does the need for a consistent minimum standard. In the past year, Citizens Advice advised on almost 400,000 housing problems, including 25,000 repairs and maintenance issues. In many of these cases, tenants living in poor conditions struggle to understand their rights or be listened to by uncooperative landlords.
2. The law won’t negatively affect good landlords
It’s often assumed that new housing legislation will make things more difficult and expensive for good landlords. That’s not the case with this bill — as only homes with the worst standards will be affected.
The government has rightly focused on improving housing regulation, particularly in the private rented sector, over recent years. But this Bill is prime evidence that there’s still more to do.
3. A wider range of health and safety issues will be covered
The law will be updated to include all of the hazards local authorities look out for under the Housing Act 2004. This means all tenants can fall back on the law for protection against a wider range of health and safety hazards in their homes, such as fire safety. At the moment, they rely on the local authority for enforcement action on some health and safety issues.
Where landlords own the whole building, they will be responsible for ensuring the whole building is fit for human habitation.
4. It will simplify health and safety regulation in housing
Housing legislation is complex, making it difficult for tenants to understand their rights. Issues like damp can fall outside of a landlord’s legal responsibilities, even if they make the home uninhabitable. This Bill reduces complexity by setting out a clear minimum safety standard for homes in England. This will make it easier for tenants to understand how they can address issues that make their home uninhabitable, irrelevant of what the specific issue is.
5. It empowers tenants to enforce property standards
It is impossible for tenants to enforce some health and safety issues. For these issues, which could be issues like serious damp or a fire safety hazard, tenants are reliant on their local authority taking action.
For local authority tenants, they can’t even rely on this. This is because if your local authority is your landlord, it can’t formally enforce housing standards against itself. This leaves local authority tenants in limbo — living in unsafe conditions with no formal way to get repairs.
Janet is a local authority tenant living with her young daughter, Meg. The house has severe damp problems that affect every room in the house. This leaves the house smelling constantly of damp and is affecting Meg’s health.
Janet has complained to her local council on a number of occasions about the problems, including showing them evidence on her mobile phone of the extent of the problems. The council have promised to visit on a number of occasions but so far no one has been to inspect the building. This has left Janet frustrated at not being listened to and worried about her young daughter’s wellbeing.
If Janet’s home was required to be fit for human habitation, she could take her local authority landlord to court if they refused to fix damp problems.
Third time lucky?
We’re supporting this private member’s bill, which will improve standards and empower tenants living in unsafe rented properties.
Local Citizens Advice will join us in calling on MPs to attend the second reading on Friday 19th January 2018. This is vital. The Bill could be ‘talked out’ if not enough MPs attend the second hearing, and at least 100 MPs are needed to prevent this. We think they’ve got every reason to turn up.
