Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
4th Report – Housing Conditions in the Social Rented Sector
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
HC 1154
Published 9 February 2026
Recommendations
6
Deferred
Urgently publish timeline for extending Awaab's Law to all hazards by March 2026.
Recommendation
The Government must urgently set and publish the timeline for extending Awaab’s Law to all remaining hazards, so that tenants and social landlords have clarity about when they can expect these new regulations to apply. This should be produced no …
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Government Response Summary
The Government will work with sector bodies to agree a compact, overseen by a taskforce, but provides no specific timeline for extending Awaab's Law to all remaining hazards.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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14
Deferred
Introduce interim annual targets for upgrading social homes to revised Decent Homes Standard
Recommendation
The Government must put in place interim targets to demonstrate to tenants and the public that progress is being made. We recommend that the Government introduce interim targets stipulating the percentage of social homes that should be upgraded to the …
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Government Response Summary
The Government will work with sector bodies to agree a compact, overseen by a taskforce, but provides no commitment to interim targets.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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Conclusions (2)
1
Conclusion
Deferred
Most social homes provide tenants with warm, safe and decent places to live. The prevalence of poor conditions across the sector is generally lower than in other tenures. However, progress at bringing all social homes up to a minimum standard of decency has almost ground to a halt, with very …
Government Response Summary
The government will set out wider plans for housing in the Long-Term Housing Strategy, which they will publish shortly, bringing together many of the changes that they have already announced and providing long-term certainty on future regulatory requirements.
13
Conclusion
Deferred
The Government’s long implementation date for the revised Decent Homes Standard eases the burden on providers, but fails to deliver improvements with the urgency that social tenants deserve. Too many tenants will remain in poor quality, unsafe homes for too long under the implementation date that the Government has set. …
Government Response Summary
The government will work with sector bodies to agree a compact overseen by a taskforce, which will focus on social and affordable housebuilding commitments and strengthened governance.