Decent Homes Standard PRS 2026: Landlord Guide

If you let a home in England, a legal minimum standard for its condition is on the way, with a long lead time to meet it. The Decent Homes Standard (DHS) has applied to social housing for 20 years, and it is set to apply to the private rented sector for the first time. This guide explains what it asks and how long you have.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 gives the power to bring it in, alongside Awaab’s Law and the Private Rented Sector Database. It turns the “minimum acceptable home” from a vague idea into a statutory benchmark that councils can enforce with civil penalties. It is not in force yet. In January 2026 the Government published its consultation response and policy statement, setting one reformed standard that applies from 2035 to both social and private rented homes. The regulations that would make it bite have not been made, so this is a duty to prepare for, not one that binds you today. Energy runs on a separate track: the current legal minimum is EPC E, and the Government plans to require EPC C by 1 October 2030 (not yet law).

The English Housing Survey (EHS) estimated that roughly 2 in 10 privately rented homes fail the old non-statutory Decent Homes benchmark. If you own one of them, the long lead time is on your side: plan the works across several years rather than scrambling at the end.

This guide walks through the five Decent Homes criteria, how each applies in a PRS context, the grace period, how enforcement interacts with HHSRS and Awaab’s Law, and what operational changes every landlord should be making in 2026.

Verify the current commencement date and statutory instrument on legislation.gov.uk before relying on any specific deadline in this article. The framework is known; the exact date for the PRS is set by secondary legislation.

The five Decent Homes criteria

A home is “decent” if it meets all five of the following criteria. Fail any one and the property fails. Criterion E is the newest: the Government added a standalone damp and mould standard in its January 2026 policy statement, so a home with damp or mould the landlord has not remedied is not decent, whatever else is right about it.

Criterion A: No Category 1 HHSRS hazards

Under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) a Category 1 hazard is one scored at ≥1,000 on the HHSRS numerical scale. The 29 HHSRS hazards include damp and mould, excess cold, fire, electrical hazards, carbon monoxide, falls on stairs, structural collapse and others.

A council inspector applies HHSRS scoring using the methodology in the Housing Act 2004 and HHSRS Operating Guidance. A single Category 1 hazard fails the property.

Most common PRS failures: excess cold (poorly insulated or single-glazed properties), damp and mould, falls on stairs (inadequate handrails or uneven treads), electrical (pre-2004 consumer units near end of life).

Damp, cold and electrical faults usually reach a landlord first as a tenant’s report. From £7.99 a month, LetCompliance takes repair reports through the tenant portal with photos, dates each one the moment it arrives and tracks it to the fix, next to the inspection photos and certificate dates for the same property. Get started

Criterion B: Reasonable state of repair

The home must be in a reasonable state of repair. The original DHS definition (2006, updated) lists building components and whether each is at or beyond the point where replacement is needed. Components include:

• External walls, roof structure, roof covering
• Chimneys
• Windows, external doors
• Kitchens (as a unit)
• Bathrooms (as a unit)
• Central heating and distribution
• Electrical systems

A property fails if one or more key building components are old and need replacing, OR two or more other components are old and need replacing (exact wording varies by current DHS guidance; verify on GOV.UK).

“Old and needs replacing” is usually assessed by age against typical replacement intervals (e.g. kitchen ~20 years, bathroom ~30 years, roof covering ~50 years).

Criterion C: Reasonably modern facilities and services

The home must have reasonably modern facilities. A property fails if it lacks three or more of:

• A kitchen less than 20 years old
• A kitchen of adequate size and layout
• A bathroom less than 30 years old
• An appropriately located bathroom and WC
• Adequate noise insulation
• Adequate size and layout of common areas (in blocks of flats)

Criterion D: Reasonable degree of thermal comfort

The home must have effective insulation and efficient heating. Interpreted in practice as:

• Gas / oil / electric / heat pump central heating or equivalent (not standalone electric fires or portable heaters as primary heat source)
• Programmer, room thermostat and TRVs on radiators
• Loft insulation where there is a loft
• Cavity wall insulation where feasible
• Draught-proofing of external doors and windows

A property with EPC band E or above and a working gas central heating system will typically meet Criterion D. A property with electric panel heaters, no insulation and single-glazed windows will typically fail.

Criterion E: Free of damp and mould

The newest criterion, and the one that changes day-to-day practice most. The Government’s policy statement puts it plainly: a home should be free of damp and mould, and a home is not decent where the landlord has not remedied damp and mould.

Two things make this different from the four criteria above:

• It stands on its own. Damp and mould could already be caught under Criterion A as a Category 1 HHSRS hazard, but only once it was severe enough to score as one. Criterion E does not wait for that threshold.
• It is about what you did, not only what is there. The test names the landlord’s response. A report that was answered, investigated and put right reads very differently from the same report left open, which is why the dated record of when a tenant told you matters as much as the repair itself.

This is also where the DHS meets Awaab’s Law, which sets enforceable timescales for damp and mould in social housing and which the Government has said it intends to extend to the private rented sector. It has published no PRS date for that: a consultation is promised and nothing is in force. Treat the timescales as the direction of travel, not as a duty you are already under.

How the PRS version differs from the social-housing version

The social-housing DHS ran from 2006 on a four-criterion framework. The January 2026 policy statement replaced it with a single new standard written for both tenures at once, so there is no separate “PRS version” to wait for. What changed:

1. 1One standard, five criteria (A–E above), applying from 2035 to social and private rented homes alike
2. 2Take modern energy-efficiency standards into account: Criterion D may be tightened to require EPC band C rather than just “effective insulation”, aligned with the government’s broader decarbonisation target
3. 3Include safety modernisations: smoke alarms on every storey, CO alarms in every room with a fuel-burning appliance (already required separately, but re-stated as a DHS criterion)
4. 4Possibly exempt certain property types: Grade I and II∗ listed buildings may have modified criteria for Criterion B (repair) to respect heritage constraints

No regulations have been made yet, so check the final wording before relying on any of these points.

Grace period

The Government’s policy statement says the standard applies to private rented homes from 2035. That lead time is your grace period: plan the works across the years in between rather than leaving them to the last one.

Don’t wait. A Category 1 hazard is enforceable under HHSRS today regardless of DHS status. If an inspector attends today, they apply HHSRS; the DHS is added from 2035.

Commission a pre-emptive DHS audit of your properties now. A chartered surveyor (MRICS/FRICS) can do a DHS assessment, identifying failures before the council does. Prices vary, so get two quotes.

Enforcement mechanics

Enforcement follows the existing HHSRS route:

Step 1: Inspection. Triggered by (a) tenant complaint to the council, (b) council intelligence-led inspection, or (c) licensing scheme inspection. Today the inspector applies HHSRS; the DHS is added from 2035.

Step 2: Notice. If the property fails, the council issues:

• Improvement Notice (section 11–12 Housing Act 2004): specifies works, deadline, appeal rights
• Prohibition Order (section 20–21): prohibits use or occupation of the property in part or whole
• Hazard Awareness Notice (section 28–29): lowest-level informal notice
• Emergency Remedial Action (section 40–42): council does the work and charges the landlord

Step 3: Civil penalty or prosecution. Non-compliance with a notice can attract:

• Civil penalty up to £40,000 per notice per offence for conduct from 1 May 2026 (Housing and Planning Act 2016)
• Unlimited fine on conviction in the Magistrates’ or Crown Court
• Rent Repayment Order in some scenarios

Step 4: Database entry. Councils will use the Private Rented Sector Database, which opens on 15 December 2026, as an enforcement tool. The Government says tenants will in future be able to use it to see whether a landlord is compliant with key legal requirements; the list of what the public can see has not been published yet.

Interaction with Awaab’s Law

DHS is the standard; Awaab’s Law is the response timescale when a tenant reports a failing.

A single mould complaint can therefore trigger:

• Awaab’s Law 10-working-day investigation obligation (social landlords only for now; no date is set for private landlords)
• HHSRS Category 1 assessment (if the mould is severe)
• DHS Criterion A failure (same point, different framework)
• Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 breach
• Section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 disrepair claim

The tenant can plead any or all of these in a County Court claim. The court doesn’t need you to know which statute to cite. It needs the failing not to be there in the first place. Together, these raise the bar for what counts as an acceptable rented home in England.

Operational playbook

1. Audit every property now

Commission a DHS assessment per property. A chartered surveyor will produce a report listing failures against each criterion with photographs, cost estimates and priority ranking. Prices vary, so get two quotes.

2. Plan remediation by severity

Prioritise:

• Category 1 hazards (existing HHSRS failure; already enforceable)
• Heating and insulation (Criterion D, highest tenant complaint driver and EPC risk)
• Old kitchens and bathrooms (Criterion C, predictable ~20/30 year clock)
• Roof, windows, external walls (Criterion B, capital-intensive)

3. Budget capital expenditure

DHS upgrades are typically capital expenditure, not revenue, because they create an improved asset. That means they are not deductible against rental income for Self Assessment, but they are added to the acquisition cost for Capital Gains Tax purposes (reducing CGT on eventual sale).

Discuss tax treatment with your accountant. Some works (like a like-for-like kitchen replacement at end of life) may be revenue repairs; extensions and material upgrades are capital.

4. Keep records

Every DHS-relevant work should have:

• Pre-work photograph
• Quote and invoice
• Certificate if applicable (e.g. gas safety for a new boiler)
• Post-work photograph
• Tenant acknowledgement of satisfactory completion

LetCompliance keeps all of this against the property: the before and after photos from your inspections, the repair and the contractor who did it, the invoice in that property’s profit and loss, and any new certificate with its renewal date.

5. Re-audit every 3 years

Decent Homes isn’t a one-off tick. Components age. Re-audit every 3 years, and keep a rolling replacement plan.

Related reading

• Awaab’s Law for landlords 2026: the response-timescale duty
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 landlord checklist: the enabling Act
• MEES & EPC minimum UK 2026: Criterion D energy-efficiency detail
• UK landlord compliance 2026: full compliance stack

Get started to keep repair and inspection records against each property.