Guest post by Jacob Poole, housing operations coordinator at Manchester firm Pabla & Pabla [1]
Poole:
It is well established that the UK has the highest proportion of inadequate housing [2] in all of Europe. But what if the heart of the problem is even worse than we think?
To show the extent of the UK’s poor-quality housing, the Home Builders Federation collected data. To do this, it relied upon the Decent Homes Standard (DHS), formally introduced in 2001. The DHS was later updated to incorporate the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) in 2004. It has not been updated since then.
In 2023, the English Housing Survey posted the most up-to-date statistics on housing conditions in the UK. This found that 10% of homes did not meet the DHS in the social rented sector, and 21% of homes did not meet the DHS in the private rented sector.
In 2024/25, there were 4.5m socially rented homes [3], which means a staggering 450,000 homes do not meet the current standard. Bafflingly, the DHS does not currently apply to the private sector, despite 21% of homes in the sector being judged not to the standard.
Already a scandal, one indelible fact makes these statistics even worse – the DHS is declared not fit for purpose.
A failed metric for judging housing conditions
In January 2026, the government announced a new DHS [4]. A month later, the Regulatory Policy Committee [5] submitted an impact assessment [6] on the proposed changes.
It states [4] that “the DHS should be updated to reflect modern expectations”, and that the updated DHS should apply to the private rented sector.
The government added: “This will improve the quality of housing for millions of renters. It is a proportionate standard, prioritising safety, decency and warmth.”
The new DHS will completely overhaul the standard for the benefit of tenants. It includes removing age requirements of dwellings, and a new facilities requirement (including a kitchen, an appropriately located bathroom or toilet, and adequate external noise insulation). It will also include updated requirements in the minimum energy efficiency standard.
The impact assessment showed the expected impact of the changes, stating that if the new DHS applied to current housing stock, 45% of social housing and 48% of privately rented homes [6] would fail the standard. The update is desperately needed.
However, the scandal worsens when you consider an even more indelible fact: the new DHS won’t apply until 2035.
A decade of uncertainty: Consequences of delaying the DHS
Described by campaign group Generation Rent as “absurd”, [7] the new DHS will not apply for nearly a decade.
The government stated that [4] “This timeframe has been chosen to allow landlords time to implement other regulatory changes, such as those introduced in the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, and to support the supply of new secure and affordable homes…
“The 2026-2035 period is comparable to the 10-year target set for the first DHS, introduced in 2001, which required all social housing to meet set standards of decency by 2010.”
But is this justification enough for the delays? What wider consequences to people’s health and livelihoods will be realised?
The all-parliamentary group Households in Temporary Accommodation [8] discovered that, between April 2019 and March 2025, 104 children died in temporary accommodation [9], which are subject to some of the worst housing conditions in the country.
Further, the Health Foundation showed [10] that 72% of the lowest-income households experienced one or more housing problems (compared with 37% in the second-lowest income quintile). Whilst the cost of living crisis worsens post-Covid-19 [11], delaying the DHS will disproportionately affect the poorest in the UK.
The fact at hand is less indelible, more sinister: the decision to delay the DHS is a choice which prioritises landlords over tenants.
Tenants living with a DHS unfit for purpose
For the next nine years, tenants in social housing will be living with a DHS not fit for purpose. Even worse, tenants in the private sector will be living without any DHS at all. This, ultimately, is a scandal which can’t be highlighted enough.
Peculiarly, enforcement mechanisms in the Renter’s Rights Act [12] are reliant on a DHS which reflects the genuine poor conditions in people’s homes. The approach to introducing the DHS will surely jeopardise the Act’s success in improving the quality of housing in the UK.
Time will tell whether the updated DHS has a significant impact on improving the UK’s housing conditions. For now, landlords will continue to profit from poor-quality housing which the government admits isn’t up to standard.
This is a scandal that should be shouted from the rooftops: 45% of social housing and 48% of private sector homes respectively will not meet the updated DHS. Unless something changes, renters around the UK will have to endure these conditions until 2035 at least.