Campaigners say renters 'simply can’t wait' until 2035 for decent homes

The Government has confirmed all rented properties - in both the social and private sectors - will be required to meet the decent homes standard "by 2035 at the latest".

The standard will require homes to be "free of the most dangerous hazards"; in a reasonable state of repair; be warm and free of damp and mould; and have "core facilities" such as adequate bathrooms, kitchens and noise insulation.

The Government has previously said introducing a decent homes standard to the private rented sector for the first time will ensure tenants have "safe, secure and warm housing".

But campaign groups have branded the almost-decade long deadline "absurd", and claim it adds "insult to injury" to ask tenants to wait so long for "the basic protection of a decent home".

Shelter said "renters simply can't wait this long for decent homes".

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The charity's chief executive, Sarah Elliott, said: "It's outrageous that millions of renters are stuck paying hand over fist for often shoddy homes that pose a real danger to their health. Now, to add insult to injury, renters are being asked to wait almost an entire decade for the basic protection of a decent home.

Generation Rent, described it as "absurd to let landlords drag their feet for an entire decade, denying renters the most basic standards in our homes", while the Renter's Reform Coalition said the Government's "lack of urgency" gives many landlords "a green light to continue profiting from rotten homes, and will have real consequences for the health and wellbeing of millions of tenants".

The coalition urged the Government to "bring the timeline forward", saying "renters cannot afford to wait a decade for these basic protections".

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook, said the Government recognises "the significant challenges that landlords are facing as a result of the bold and comprehensive regulatory changes we are enacting".

He added: "We are also acutely aware that we are asking social landlords to balance the competing demands of improving their existing stock and building more desperately needed social and affordable homes.

"As such, we have decided that all rented properties will be required to meet the new DHS by 2035 at the latest - an implementation timeline that gives social landlords in particular the time and the certainty they need to boost housing supply as well as drive up the quality of the homes they manage."

A document published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Wednesday said the new standard will be regulated and enforced from 2035 in the social sector by the Regulator of Social Housing and in the private rental sector by local authority housing teams.

They said while this timeframe will "allow landlords time to implement other regulatory changes", the Government is "clear that landlords should not leave all work to improve homes to the end of the implementation period and will publish guidance to support this".

But the National Residential Landlords Association said it broadly welcomed the Government's plans which "provide much-needed clarity for both landlords and tenants about the standards that should be expected of homes to rent".

The association also warned that "all the standards in the world will mean nothing without robust enforcement to back them up", adding: "It is time to ensure enforcement is properly funded and targeted, so that the cost of action falls on those breaking the rules, not the responsible majority of landlords already doing the right thing."