Health & safety rental level is being upgraded – can you help?

The health and safety rating system (HHSRS) that is used for rented housing is being revisited by the Government – and if you're a landlord you can have your say on how it should change.

This will be the first time that the risk assessment system used by local authorities has been updated for 15 years. At the moment, the HHSRS looks at ventilation issues such as damp and extreme cold, as well as structural defects but a two-year project is now underway to decide whether or not the criteria used to judge the health of rented homes needs to change.

Among other aspects of health and safety, the review is looking at:

• new recommended minimum standards
• training for assessors and other stakeholders, including the introduction of a competency framework
• development of a simpler means of banding HHSRS assessment results
• the possible amalgamation or removal of existing hazard profiles
• HHSRS digital assessment tools
• HHSRS Landlords Guidance and new Tenants Guidance
• HHSRS enforcement guidance
• fire safety hazards.

The Government wants to hear from anyone who lets out rented property and an online survey for landlords can be found here. It doesn’t matter whether you own a large rental portfolio or just one house or flat, your views are still welcome. So don’t be put off from completing the survey. You can make your voice heard until the end of March and help make important improvements to the wellbeing of tenants and health and safety in the rental market.