Housing Standards Improving? Findings from the Latest English Housing Survey

Findings from the latest English Housing Survey, just released, appear to suggest that housing standards have improved across the board over the last few years. In this post we will look at what the survey has found, at whether the quality of housing is really getting better and at what this might mean for landlords.

What is the English Housing Survey?

The English Housing Survey or EHS is what is known as an accredited official statistic. It dates back to 1967.

The EHS is a survey of housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. The survey is based on interviews with householders and property inspections conducted over the course of the year. It covers all housing tenures including owner occupied homes, social housing and the private rented sector or PRS.

Findings from the EHS are published in instalments. This latest report is the second publication of initial findings from the 2023-24 survey. It is of particular interest to our sector as it looks closely at key aspects of housing quality and condition (it also looks at the energy performance and efficiency of properties). Findings on other issues will be published across the course of the year.

It is important to point out that – although the Covid pandemic seems a long time ago now –this is the first survey since 2019 that has not been affected by changes in data collection and methodology made during the pandemic. For example, 2023 was the first time since 2019 that surveyors were able to undertake full surveys of properties. The report makes this clear and points out it should be taken into account.

More information about the methodology used in conducting the EHS can be found in the survey itself.

The latest findings on the quality of housing in England

Overall

The report says: ‘The overarching findings show general improvements to both housing quality and energy efficiency in the long term.’ It adds: ‘Compared to a decade ago, we see fewer non-decent and unsafe homes, and more homes in the highest energy efficiency bands.’

However, the report does record a ‘persistent level’ of homes that fail the Decent Homes Standard. It also points out that there have been increases in the levels of damp and mould.

Overcrowding

The report opens with a look at overcrowding. The relevance of this, most likely, is that overcrowded homes are more likely to be substandard. It says that the overall rate of overcrowding in 2023-24 was similar to the recent past at 3% of all properties. It adds that the number of underoccupied dwellings (homes which have more space than they need, particularly bedrooms) decreased slightly in the PRS. This perhaps suggests a slightly increased tendency towards overcrowding.

Non-decent homes

A decent home meets the current statutory minimum standards as set out in the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS). A non-decent home is generally one which is not in a reasonable state of repair, which lacks modern facilities or which is not adequately warm. It will likely have a category 1 HHSRS hazard (or hazards). Although a standard for the social sector, the EHS uses it across all tenures.

The report says that, over the last 10 years, the numbers of non-decent homes have decreased across all tenures. (However, in 2023, 15% or 3.8m homes still failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard.)

The report says that improvements have been more notable in the owner occupied and social rented sectors. There was a 2% improvement in the PRS, but the report says that this is not statistically significant.

Category 1 hazards

Under the HHSRS a category 1 hazard is a hazard that poses a serious and immediate risk to someone’s health or safety.

The report says that such hazards are ‘more prevalent’ in the PRS than in other sectors at 10% of properties (8% in owner occupied and 4% in social). However, it points out this rate has fallen significantly from 14% in just two years.

The most common category 1 hazards across all types of homes were falls on stairs (3%), excess cold (2%), falls on the level (1%), falls between levels (1%) and damp (1%).

Damp and related issues

Damp is often reported to be a major issue affecting homes today. Interestingly the report says that between 1996 and 2011 there was a ‘sizable reduction’ in damp problems across all tenures. However, incidences have increased since 2019. It suggests rising energy costs may be partly to blame for this.

The report says that, in 2023, 5% or 1.3m dwellings had a problem with damp. This has been a 1-2% increase over five years. (While perhaps this seems a relatively low amount it should be noted minor damp problems are not recorded in the survey.)

According to the report damp is slightly more common in the PRS (9% of properties) compared to the social sector (7%) – and much more common than in owner occupied properties (4%).

Serious condensation was more of a problem than either rising or penetrating damp in all properties except owner occupied homes. Local authority properties are most likely to be affected by this, at 7% of homes.

Energy efficiency

Most will agree that good insulation and heating contribute to improved housing conditions. The report suggests that positive progress has been made across all tenures in recent years regarding the installation of loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and full double glazing. It reports that the vast majority of homes today have central heating.

The survey reports that, overall, the energy efficiency of our homes has benefitted. It says that over ten years the proportion of homes in the highest energy efficiency bands (EPC A to C) increased from 23% to 52%. Energy efficiency levels across these three bands were broadly similar for properties of all tenures, except for band C properties were social homes outperformed other types.

Regional variations

The English Housing Survey suggests there is ‘significant variation’ in housing quality across England and across types of tenure.

Looking at the PRS, London had the lowest proportion of non-decent dwellings than all other regions at 12% of properties, followed by the East of England with 17%. The highest rates of non-decency in the PRS were seen in Yorkshire and the Humber with 31% – around 2.5 times that in London.

For energy efficiency the North East had the most energy efficient homes, closely followed by London. The West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber had fewest energy efficient properties.

Some thoughts on the survey

First of all, while the results of the English Housing Survey are always of great interest to those of us in housing they are, or should be, particularly interesting this year.

The coming of the Renters’ Rights Bill will bring housing quality more into focus than ever before. In particular, this could see the adoption of the Decent Homes Standard to the PRS as well as  Awaab’s Law to all rented sectors. This brings stringent new rules for dealing with damp and mould.

In this regard, the latest EHS findings appear to be relatively good news for landlords. Housing standards, perhaps with the exception of damp issues, do seem to be improving.

It would be wise, however, to be fairly circumspect about these findings. First and foremost, the quality improvements are relatively small statistically (though it should be said more significant in terms of numbers of people who have benefitted). So it could be merely a statistical improvement (or glitch).

Even after five years the impact of Covid should not be underestimated. Not only were statistics difficult to collect during this time but it was difficult to investigate and deal with repairs and maintenance too. In the last few years it is quite possible that a return to normality has enabled landlords to catch up on maintenance.

Another factor, and one that hasn’t been mentioned in this survey, is the rise in new housebuilding in recent years. New houses have much better (and often very high) levels of thermal efficiency and this could have worked its way into the statistics.

Of course, possibly, we are overlooking the obvious here: Maybe housing standards have just got better. Housing standards have been in the news a lot in recent years, and this has perhaps concentrated minds. The Housing Act 2004, which is the basis of our current housing standards laws, has been around for 20 years now. It is perhaps starting to bear fruit at last. Maybe landlords are getting better. Maybe enforcement, despite its many challenges, is getting better.

So what might landlords take from the latest information revealed by the English Housing Survey?

Broadly the message is positive. If a fairly small positive. While there are many horror stories in the press, both about the PRS and social sector properties, things seem to be at least heading in the right direction.

It is important not to be complacent however. There is much more that can be done to improve housing standards. More to the point, many challenges lay ahead this year. This comprises both the introduction of ever more licensing schemes and, of course, in the form of the Renters’ Rights Bill.

The latest findings from the English Housing Survey on housing quality and energy efficiency can be found in full here.