What is the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2008?
A new law was enforced from late March 2019, called the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. Essentially, it holds landlords accountable for the quality of the properties they rent out to protect the tenants from squalid living conditions that affect their health or safety. Whether the property is rented privately or not, there are some basic rules that landlords should uphold to make the spaces habitable. This does not mean that the accommodation must be pristine, but the bare minimum should be sustained throughout the tenancy agreement.
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What is the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2008?
What Does the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act Aim to End?
As stated previously, the Homes Act was created to ensure comfortable conditions for tenants to sleep, cook, eat, and exist without affecting their health or compromising their safety. Any conditions which oppose this and create an unhealthy and dangerous environment are against the law and can be punishable if the tenant takes this up to court, with clear evidence of the breach.
Examples of this include:
1. Insufficient Water Supply
If there is a problem with the hot water supply, the landlord should be notified immediately. As long as you have been keeping up to date with bills and are paying them regularly, there is no reason why your landlord should allow this problem to continue without looking for a way to fix it.
This affects the physical health of the tenants as it can cause hypothermia, fatigue and confusion, and mental health effects. On the other hand, if there is no cold water supply, this affects the ability to shower, cook and drink. Without any water, the central heating system is affected and, when switched on, could cause damage to the cylinder. These conditions make the building impossible to live in, and the Homes Act aims to protect against this.
2. Poor Ventilation
Similarly, the ventilation of a property is essential in creating a safe environment. Air is brought into the house from the atmosphere outside and even spaced out to allow clean air to reach every room. Alternatively, without functioning ventilation, an accumulation of pollutants and mould cumulatively builds up inside the house and affects people’s health. Indicators that you may be suffering from this problem include strange odours, lots of dust, condensation and mould growing in spaces of the house.
When mould is inhaled over a specific time, tenants may feel ill, suffering from rashes, flu-like symptoms, and even more severe respiratory issues. As a result, it is a standard requirement for ventilation to be efficient.
3. Dangerous Structures
A tenant wouldn’t usually agree to rent an unstable property and a hazard to live in. If a collapse happens whilst a tenant is already living in the property and is not caused by their own doing, the landlord is responsible for repairing it so that the living conditions are safe.
No one will get hurt from living in the property should it crash or crumble even further. Similarly, suppose the infrastructure was already hazardous to live in. In that case, spaces where you could fall from the second floor to the first floor, or the steps are fragile and could break. The landlord must reconstruct the building to be safe from falls before a severe accident occurs.
4. Security
Every building must be safe from the outside world, with sufficient security measures taken to ensure that risks of home invasions are decreased to the minimum they could be. This does not mean that the landlord must equip every building with the most expensive high-tech cameras and install five bolts onto the doors, but it implies that some protection should be available.
For instance, this could include windows that lock and doors with functioning bolts and good lighting outside and inside of the house so tenants can protect themselves and see clearly what is happening in their proximity.
Exclusions From the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act
The Homes Act is valid for anyone with a tenancy agreement and has been since 20th March 2019. However, if you rent from a private landlord and have had your contract since before this date, you must wait for it to run out before you can be benefitted from this law. Although there are many circumstances in which you can hold your landlord liable for fixing the damage, there are some cases when you cannot.
Suppose a tenant creates damage inside the property, which creates issues mentioned above, such as lack of security. In that case, they are responsible for repairing the damage as it was directly their fault. For instance, if the tenant cracks the window when closing it and leaves them without one, or the door lock breaks because they slam the door with too much force, they must repair these fixtures, not the landlord. Similarly, if the tenants partake in illegal activities which ruin the air quality or cause structural damage, they are accountable for their actions.
Damage caused by natural disasters like earthquakes, storms, fires, or floods is not valid under the Homes Act as this was not an event that the landlords could prevent. Usually, the owners have buildings insurance which can assist in paying the reconstructions costs instead, and a claim can be filed, which would be accepted by the insurance company. However, if any of the tenant’s belongings are destroyed, like clothes, electronic devices or children’s toys, again, they are responsible for their replacement.
Fitness for Human Habitation
Overall, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 was designed by the government to have peace of mind when renting. Knowing that just because the property isn’t theirs and they do not legally own it does not mean that their health can be compromised or they should live in unsafe conditions.
If you are a tenant and the property has one of the issues mentioned above, your landlord must become aware of them quickly. Subsequently, if they refuse to fix the problem or allege that they will but have not done so over a long time, you can indict them and allow a judge to evaluate these claims. If the landlord is guilty, they must fix the problem, and if they are not, you can attempt to repair it instead or wait until your tenancy agreement is terminated and search for a new landlord.
Find out more about the importance of insurance here .
Other useful links about Business Insurance:
Building Insurance for Landlords
Landlord Contents Insurance
UK General Landlord Insurance
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