The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 came into force in March 2019 and amends existing provisions in relation to fitness for human habitation.
The obligations imposed by the Act apply to all new tenancies with a term of less than seven years granted on or after 20 March 2019. This includes replacement tenancies and all tenancies that began as fixed term tenancies before the commencement date but became periodic after the commencement date. Most importantly, the Act will apply to all periodic tenancies in existence on the commencement date 12 months after that date, so by 20 March 2020.
The term fitness for human habitation is outlined in Section 10 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and is amended by this Act.
A property will be regarded as unfit for human habitation if the building is neglected and in bad condition. This covers situations where the building:
- is unstable
- has serious damp problems
- has an unsafe layout
- has insufficient natural light or ventilation
- has problems with the supply of water and drainage
- has inadequate facilities for preparing and cooking food or disposing of waste water
- where there is any prescribed hazard as set out in Schedule 1 of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) Regulations 2005
What can be defined as a hazard? In these circumstances, a hazard means any risk of harm to the health or safety of an existing or potential occupier of a property.
A landlord will be responsible for the hazard from the date they are made aware of it by the tenant. However, if the hazard is in a common part of a block of flats or HMO, the landlord will immediately be liable. A landlord will have a reasonable period of time to deal with the hazard. Any failure by the landlord to deal with the hazard in a timely manner once they are made aware of it will mean that the tenant will be able to take them to Court. The Court will then be able to decide whether the landlord is dealing with matters in a reasonable time.
There are new access provisions and a tenant must give access to a landlord, or their contractors, during reasonable hours of the day and on 24 hours written notice.
If a Court finds that a landlord has breached their obligations, then it can award the tenant compensation. There is currently no prescribed limit as to the amount of compensation that can be awarded. Also, remember that the Court can award the tenant their legal costs.
The Act contains provision that there is no liability where the issue has been caused by the behaviour of the tenant, orwhere the property is uninhabitable because of fire, storm, flood or other inevitable accident. There is no obligation on a landlord to repair anything that a tenant is entitled to remove from the property, or to carry out works or repairs which would put the landlord in breach of any other Act and, if there is liability, where the landlord requires consent from a superior landlord or third party.
Initially, it’s likely that we will see an increase in claims for disrepair and it would be sensible, if possible, to carry out stock surveys to ensure that premises are compliant with the Act, checking for damp, mould, problems with boilers and dangerous stairs.
Record keeping should be prioritised so that:
- potential claims can be dealt with quickly
- all front-line officers know to report any signs of potential disrepair
- details are recorded of any call from a tenant where they make even the slightest reference to the property condition
If necessary, inspect the property and record the outcome of that visit. Any calls from the tenant reporting disrepair must be recorded and details of what you intend to do. If you cannot gain access to a property record the dates and times you tried to visit the tenant.
