Heather Wheeler, the Housing Minister, has announced that there will be a review of current rules by the government, concerning health and safety standards within rental properties, with the aim that tenants will be afforded increased protection. Set in a post-Grenfell world, the government is planning to fully regulate the housing industry, with measures announced which will focus on tightening standards of safety and health in rental properties, by reviewing the present complicated and outdated 29 point HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety Rating System). The review also aims to analyse whether there should be an introduction of minimum standards for commonplace health and safety issues in rental homes to ensure that renters remain safe.
The government has also promised to crackdown on the small number of landlords which choose to ignore dangerous living conditions or continue renting out overcrowded homes. This would include financial penalties of a maximum of £30,000 for landlords who refuse to comply with minimum standards in rental properties. The government is also planning to take action to make sure rules on carbon monoxide safety are appropriate for use. A review will be launched which will analyse whether current legislation is extensive and wide-reaching enough to keep people safe from the dangers of carbon monoxide leaks in their homes. The review will judge if there should be blanket requirements for the installation of alarms for other heating methods such as gas and oil, and it will also look at social housing. New research will also be considered by ministers, including the reduction of prices of monoxide alarms, technological improvements and whether these support the case to broaden the requirements.
Heather Wheeler MP, the Housing Minister, has stated that everyone is entitled to feel secure and safe in their home, and the planned reviews will allow the government to revisit the systems already in place for safety and health ratings, as well as carbon monoxide alarms, to make sure that these meet tenant’s needs and are fit for their purpose. By looking at these rules again, it is hoped that the government will ensure they work as they should do to keep tenants safe, and provide them with peace of mind.
Ministers have also defined further details of a review into the requirements of carbon monoxide alarms in the home, to make sure tenants remain safe from a deadly and silent danger. Industry experts have hailed the reviews of the existing HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety Rating System) by the government as excellent news for the housing sector, as the rules have long been poorly understood and complicated for landlords and tenants.
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