More than 700,000 private rented homes could still fail to meet the current Decent Homes Standard (DHS) by 2035 despite a new Government deadline requiring all rented properties to comply with an updated version of the standard.
Research from Inventory Base, based on data from the English Housing Survey 2024-25, suggests that if current rates of remediation continue, 726,000 homes in the private rented sector will remain non-decent by 2035.
A further 87,000 homes in the social sector are also forecast to fall short of the existing benchmark.
The warning comes after the Government’s January 2026 publication of The New Decent Homes Standard, following consultation on proposals to apply a tougher, unified standard across both private and social rented housing.
UPDATED STANDARD
All rented properties are expected to meet the updated standard by 2035, alongside the extension of DHS requirements to the private sector under the Renters’ Rights Act from 1 May 2026.
While the number of non-decent homes has fallen over the long term, progress has been uneven. In the private rented sector, non-decent homes declined from 1.45 million in 2008 to 1.09 million in 2024, with an average annual reduction of 1.6% over the past decade. However, 2024 saw a 6.1% increase.
In the social sector, numbers dropped from 1.07 million to 428,000 over the same period, averaging a 2.7% annual reduction but with periods of stagnation.
NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH
Sián Hemming-Metcalfe (main picture, inset), Operations Director at Inventory Base, says: “Nine years is a long time to tell tenants to wait for homes to become properly fit for habitation. A fixed 2035 deadline is at least a step forward, if only because it replaces vague ambition with something more concrete.
“But the uncomfortable truth is that we are not moving fast enough. Hundreds of thousands of homes already fail today’s Decent Homes Standard. By 2035, the risk is not that we fall short of the new benchmark, it’s that we still haven’t met the old one.
SUSTAINED INVESTMENT
And she adds: “Deadlines don’t deliver change on their own. Progress does. And progress cannot remain uneven, sporadic, or optional.
“If the government is serious about every rented home meeting the new standard by 2035, it will take sustained investment, stronger inspection schedules, and enforcement with actual teeth. Without that, a great many tenants will still be living in homes that are neither decent nor safe, regardless of what legislation promises.”
