First Delegated Legislation Committee
Monday 19th October 2026
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18:06
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
Of leeway when it comes to meeting their existing duties to provide safe and decent homes for their tenants. It's also important that tenants are aware of the protections they are entitled to, and landlords are clear on their responsibilities to make things right. Social Housing Information Campaign will launch in January to raise awareness of the new protections among social housing tenants and residents, ahead of the regulations coming into force in November. I will write to all social landlords in England, setting out clearly what the regulations require and the standards they must meet. I now turn to the electrical safety standards in the private rented sector and social rented sector.
England Amendment Regulations 2026. As honourable members may recall, last year we brought social housing into the scope of the electrical safety requirements that private landlords have had to meet since 2020. As a result, all landlords must now check the electrical installations in their properties at least every five years. The regulations before us are required to ensure that those existing requirements align with the latest version of the relevant British standard, namely BS 7671. As a result of the changes required, the existing references to further investigative work are no longer relevant and have been removed. We are also Sir Desmond clarifying that a tenancy inspection and test is not required.
If the previous inspection and test took place within the last five years, and the report is still current. These changes will make sure there is clarity and consistency on the standards that are expected of landlords in both rented sectors. And with that, Sir Desmond, I commend both sets of draft regulations to the committee.
England Amendment Regulations 2026. As honourable members may recall, last year we brought social housing into the scope of the electrical safety requirements that private landlords have had to meet since 2020. As a result, all landlords must now check the electrical installations in their properties at least every five years. The regulations before us are required to ensure that those existing requirements align with the latest version of the relevant British standard, namely BS 7671. As a result of the changes required, the existing references to further investigative work are no longer relevant and have been removed. We are also Sir Desmond clarifying that a tenancy inspection and test is not required.
If the previous inspection and test took place within the last five years, and the report is still current. These changes will make sure there is clarity and consistency on the standards that are expected of landlords in both rented sectors. And with that, Sir Desmond, I commend both sets of draft regulations to the committee.
18:07
18:07
Speaker 3
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Speaker 3
Sorry, sir Desmond, you caught me on the hop there. Thank you, Sir Desmond. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and I welcome the opportunity to sit opposite the minister again, and I appreciate the remarks he has already made in this debate. I also welcome the opportunity, on behalf of His Majesty's opposition, to address this set of regulations, and I'm going to address my remarks in the reverse order to those made by the minister. So the first set of regulations regarding electrical safety. These are broadly technical in their in their concern. They're uncontentious really in terms of legislative change.
And it's vital that all homes meet the necessary electrical safety requirements that tenants, landlords, registered providers and others rightly expect. I would, however, like to raise one question about these regulations, as my noble friend highlighted in the other place. The legislation requires that such standards be monitored by local authorities. Now, with all the uncertainty surrounding local government at the moment, and the lack of action taken by the government to allay such concerns, on whom will the monitoring responsibilities fall during the transitional periods, and what impact will local government organisation reorganisation have on this and the innumerable other small scale but vital responsibilities?
Secondly, in the other place, both the opposition and the Liberal Democrats raised the important point that extra responsibilities for landlords do not always match up with expected compliance of tenants. What plans does the minister have not just to enforce responsibilities and compliance on the landlords side, but also on tenants? Turning to the other set of regulations regarding hazards in social housing, I want to start by acknowledging the critical importance of ensuring that every tenant has a safe, hygienic and sturdy home to live in. It was this very concern that led the previous conservative government to introduce the original Awaabs law.
As the minister has said, his sad and untimely death in 2020 was a shock to all of us in this place and up and down the country, and showed that there clearly was and still is, more to be done to ensure safety for all residents in social housing. These regulations go further, as the minister has said, than the original law by extending the same principles to cover other hazards, such as excessive heat or cold hygiene hazards, structural hazards and more. These are very real and pressing concerns for some tenants, but these regulations are not a perfect response to the issue in hand.
It's important that the valid concerns of industry groups are also noted in this debate because they highlight how, when considering any new regulatory requirements, we must remember the added financial cost and extra time that must accompany their enforcement. For example, the National Housing Federation has raised concerns about the substantial additional costs to housing associations. We know and hear, both in our constituencies up and down the nation, that many housing associations are already stretched, with some struggling to cover their costs already. New requirements can take away money earmarked for other repairs and maintenance, forcing unwelcome choices for housing associations.
Homeless link has also warned that at present, no government funding exists to help providers finding themselves on the brink, operating on very tight margins as the hazards for consideration expand in scope, so too do the pressures on cost and time. The government's own impact assessment shows this, with an estimated increase in costs of £213.6 million. Importantly, this covers only the administrative costs. Sir Desmond so the true figure is likely to be considerably greater. So it is important that the government engages closely and meaningfully with the sector as these regulations come into force. I call on the minister to commit to this when he sums up both to ease the concerns and understand the true nature of the costs not included in the impact assessment.
I hope the minister will make that promise in this debate and support tenants, landlords, housing associations and registered providers alike.
And it's vital that all homes meet the necessary electrical safety requirements that tenants, landlords, registered providers and others rightly expect. I would, however, like to raise one question about these regulations, as my noble friend highlighted in the other place. The legislation requires that such standards be monitored by local authorities. Now, with all the uncertainty surrounding local government at the moment, and the lack of action taken by the government to allay such concerns, on whom will the monitoring responsibilities fall during the transitional periods, and what impact will local government organisation reorganisation have on this and the innumerable other small scale but vital responsibilities?
Secondly, in the other place, both the opposition and the Liberal Democrats raised the important point that extra responsibilities for landlords do not always match up with expected compliance of tenants. What plans does the minister have not just to enforce responsibilities and compliance on the landlords side, but also on tenants? Turning to the other set of regulations regarding hazards in social housing, I want to start by acknowledging the critical importance of ensuring that every tenant has a safe, hygienic and sturdy home to live in. It was this very concern that led the previous conservative government to introduce the original Awaabs law.
As the minister has said, his sad and untimely death in 2020 was a shock to all of us in this place and up and down the country, and showed that there clearly was and still is, more to be done to ensure safety for all residents in social housing. These regulations go further, as the minister has said, than the original law by extending the same principles to cover other hazards, such as excessive heat or cold hygiene hazards, structural hazards and more. These are very real and pressing concerns for some tenants, but these regulations are not a perfect response to the issue in hand.
It's important that the valid concerns of industry groups are also noted in this debate because they highlight how, when considering any new regulatory requirements, we must remember the added financial cost and extra time that must accompany their enforcement. For example, the National Housing Federation has raised concerns about the substantial additional costs to housing associations. We know and hear, both in our constituencies up and down the nation, that many housing associations are already stretched, with some struggling to cover their costs already. New requirements can take away money earmarked for other repairs and maintenance, forcing unwelcome choices for housing associations.
Homeless link has also warned that at present, no government funding exists to help providers finding themselves on the brink, operating on very tight margins as the hazards for consideration expand in scope, so too do the pressures on cost and time. The government's own impact assessment shows this, with an estimated increase in costs of £213.6 million. Importantly, this covers only the administrative costs. Sir Desmond so the true figure is likely to be considerably greater. So it is important that the government engages closely and meaningfully with the sector as these regulations come into force. I call on the minister to commit to this when he sums up both to ease the concerns and understand the true nature of the costs not included in the impact assessment.
I hope the minister will make that promise in this debate and support tenants, landlords, housing associations and registered providers alike.
18:11
18:11
Speaker 4
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Speaker 4
Thank you very much, Sir Desmond. It's a pleasure to have you on the chair for the second one of my meetings today. I just wanted to very briefly put on record my strong support for what the government is doing here in relation to the expansion of our law, both in the social sector and the private sector. As an example of the importance of it, I recently had a mother in my constituency get in touch, worried about her son, who is asthmatic and in their property, which is managed by a social housing association. Significant damp and black mould on the windows and walls was aggravating his condition and Awaabs law, which places a legal duty on social landlords to address damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm within fixed timeframes, was a really useful foundation for me to stand on when contacting the council on her behalf, and extending those principles to the private sector will do so much for another one of my constituents, who recently had his bed condemned by his letting agency for being infested with black mould, with a root cause again being the state of the housing which resulted in his case in a chest infection and a hospital visit, and he has had to pay for new bed himself, a significant expense and Which resulted in his case in a chest infection and a hospital visit, and he has had to pay for a new bed himself, a significant expense and one cause, as I say, by that problem with his private rented house.
18:22
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
Repairs or maintenance. We therefore took the decision to remove overcrowding from the scope of Arabs law to ensure that these regulations are focused on repairs issues. Social landlords obviously will still be expected to take overcrowding issues seriously, and the sector must continue to address these through their transfer and allocations policies. Tenants concerned about overcrowding will be able to seek redress through the Housing Ombudsman Service, and tenants in Housing Association properties can obviously report overcrowding issues to their local council and beyond that, as he knows and I know he shares my ambition in this area, we need to boost the supply of new social and affordable homes to ensure that more families who are overcrowded and severely overcrowded can be moved into appropriate accommodation.
So, Desmond, to conclude, it's imperative that we continue to work to improve the safety and quality of social housing. These regulations will enable us to do so. They'll play a vital role in making sure social landlords are clear as to their responsibilities, and respond to complaints in a timely manner. I commend these draft regulations to the committee.
So, Desmond, to conclude, it's imperative that we continue to work to improve the safety and quality of social housing. These regulations will enable us to do so. They'll play a vital role in making sure social landlords are clear as to their responsibilities, and respond to complaints in a timely manner. I commend these draft regulations to the committee.
18:22
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18:23
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