On 28/01/2026, the government announced that many private renters will have to wait a decade before their landlords will be forced to make sure their home is decent, with Generation Rent labelling the announcement “absurd.”
The government’s Renters’ Rights Act will extend the Decent Homes Standard from social housing to private rented homes, however the law didn’t specify a timeline.
Following a consultation in 2025, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has today announced that the Decent Homes Standard will be applied to private rented homes from 2035, despite campaigning from Generation Rent and other renter organisations to bring the timeline forward.
More than 1 in 5 private rented homes in England are currently ‘non-decent’, according to the English Housing Survey.
Ben Twomey, Chief Executive of Generation Rent, said:
“Homes are the foundations of our lives, but millions of renters are living in homes that are falling apart and dangerous to our health. This is terrible value for money as the rents we pay every month continue to soar. It is absurd to let landlords drag their feet for an entire decade, denying renters the most basic standards in our homes. It will mean millions of renters, including children, trapped living in poor quality homes with nowhere to turn.”
Decent Homes Standard
To meet the Decent Homes Standard, a home must be free from serious health and safety hazards, be in a reasonable state of repair, have reasonably modern facilities and services such as kitchens and bathrooms, and provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
It was first implemented in the social housing sector in 2001, while the standard was last updated in 2006. The revised Decent Homes Standard, when applied in 2035, will also include a new criteria related to the absence of damp and mould. Polling from Generation Rent, conducted with Opinium in April 2025, found 3.6 million private renters are currently living with damp and mould in their homes.
