The Decent Homes standard ensures that all social housing residents have access to and should expect a minimum standard of housing. The Decent Home Standard currently applies to all properties within the social housing sector; it is one of the measures that social landlords must report to the Regulator of Social Housing every year.
What defines a decent home
To be defined as “decent”, a home must:
Meet the current statutory minimum standard for housing.
Homes that fail to meet this are those containing one or more hazards assessed as serious under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
Be in a reasonable state of repair.
Homes which fail this are those where either:
- One or more of the key building components are old and, because of their condition, need replacing or major repair
- Two or more of the other building components are old and, because of their condition, need replacing or major repair.
Have reasonably modern facilities and service.
Homes that fail to meet this criteria are those that lack three or more of the following:
- Reasonably modern kitchen (20 years old or fewer)
- Kitchen with adequate space and layout
- Reasonably modern bathroom (30 years old or fewer)
- Appropriately located bathroom and WC
- Adequate insulation against external noise (where external noise is a problem)
- Adequate size and layout of common areas for blocks of flats.
Provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
This means that your home must have both effective insulation and efficient heating.
Assessing the condition of our properties
An external company is due to commence stock condition surveys on all our properties. The data gathered is to help us understand more about our housing stock and will provide us with up-to-date condition information. The information collected will include the age and condition of components and identify any HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety Rating System) hazards in your home.
Any Category 1 hazards identified by the stock condition survey are escalated for immediate remediation.
What happens during a survey?
The surveyor will be looking at things like doors, windows, roofs, and kitchens to assess their age and condition and to make sure your home is free from hazards to ensure your safety and well-being. This will take up to an hour depending on the size of your property. The surveyor will need access to all rooms in your property. Don’t worry you won’t need to move any furniture, the surveys will be mainly a visual inspection of features, fixtures, and fittings, with some photographs taken.
Surveyors may walk around the perimeter of your building to conduct their survey; and in buildings with communal areas, may access the communal area to complete their survey.
What do I need to do?
You do not need to do anything, you will initially receive a letter from us to inform you of the survey, the letter will detail the next steps and introduce you to the company that will be conducting the surveys. The surveyors will contact you to advise when they will be in the area and will be visiting your property. When the surveyor attends your property, we would be grateful if you could give them access. If you aren’t in the surveyor will leave a card with their direct contact details on, you will then be able to contact them to arrange an appointment date and time for the surveyor to re-attend.
What happens after my property is surveyed?
All the information collected from the surveys is collated and helps us plan future investment programmes to replace the main components in a property.
Last Updated on Tuesday, April 28, 2026