Housing health and safety rating system

What is it?

On 6 April 2006, the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS) came into effect in England. It is a risk assessment tool which is used to assess potential risks to the health and safety of occupants in residential properties. 
 

Why is it needed?

The HHSRS focuses on a range of hazards that are most likely to be present in housing. Tackling these hazards will make more homes healthier and safer to live in. The HHSRS includes factors that can affect the physiological health of occupants such as damp and cold, fire, electrical hazards and the risk of falls. Other factors include their psychological health, such as noise and overcrowding.

Who is affected by the HHSRS?

Tenants, owner occupiers, private landlords and property management agents.

What type of properties is HHSRS used to assess?

It can be used to assess all residential dwellings.

How are properties assessed?

An environmental health officer or a housing enforcement officer from the local authority will carry out assessments. A risk assessment looks at the likelihood of an incident arising from the condition of the property and the likely harmful outcome. Hazards are divided into two categories; 

• category 1: serious hazards 
• category 2: less serious hazards.

What happens if a property contains serious hazards?

The local authority has a duty to take the most appropriate action in relation to the hazard. However local authorities are advised to try to deal with problems informally at first. We would also expect that, in all cases, the tenant would have made contact in writing (letter, email, text message) with their landlord/agent to raise the issue initially, before the council takes any action. This gives the landlord the opportunity to act to resolve the problem.

Where hazards have been identified by the council, we may serve informal notices on the owner, agent or other responsible person, which requires them to carry out works to remove or reduce the hazard. If this notice is not complied with, the council may then serve legal statutory notices.

If these further, statutory notices are not complied with, For example, if the work is not carried out by the person(s) responsible, then the council can at this stage proceed to take default action against the owner or agent. What this means is that the council can arrange for the required works to be carried out by a contractor that it appoints, and will then seek to recover the costs from the owner or agent. In this situation, we will make contact with the tenant to arrange access and commence this process, guiding them through the stages.