The Regulator of Social Housing expects you to hold an accurate, up-to-date and evidenced understanding of your homes' condition, based on a physical assessment of all homes. Because the reformed Decent Homes Standard judges components on condition rather than age, planned works should follow validated survey data, not lifecycle dates alone.
The Regulator of Social Housing expects you to hold an accurate, up-to-date and evidenced understanding of your homes' condition, based on a physical assessment of all homes. Planned works should follow from that data, checked by a validation survey before you order, because the reformed Decent Homes Standard judges components on condition rather than age.
What does the regulator expect?
The Safety and Quality Standard, in force since 1 April 2024, requires an "accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes". In practice that means property-level records based on a physical assessment of all homes. The standard also expects you to:
- meet all legal health and safety requirements, and complete the actions they require "within appropriate timescales";
- provide an "effective, efficient and timely" repairs and planned-works service, with completion timescales communicated to tenants.
Landlords with more than 1,000 homes are inspected on at least a four-year cycle, which began on 1 April 2024. Survey and works data also feed your tenant satisfaction measures, including RP01, "Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard".
A rolling survey programme that reaches every home, with cloned or desktop records flagged until a surveyor has visited, is easier to evidence at inspection than a model built mainly on assumptions.
Lifecycles or condition: what changes under the new Decent Homes Standard?
The 2006 standard still applies now. Its facilities test uses age: a home fails criterion (c) if 3 or more of 6 facilities are missing, and those facilities include a kitchen 20 years old or less and a bathroom 30 years old or less. Age-based component lifecycles fit that test.
The government response of 28 January 2026 confirmed a reformed standard, to be met by 2035 at the latest:
| Criterion | What it tests |
|---|---|
| A | No Category 1 hazards |
| B | Fails if 1 or more key components, or 2 or more other components, are not in reasonable repair. Age is no longer a test |
| C | Facilities (3 of 4 for flats, 2 of 3 for houses), plus child-resistant window restrictors where there is a fall risk |
| D | Minimum energy efficiency, heating able to heat the whole home, and programmable heating |
| E | Free from damp and mould |
Key components include the kitchen, bathroom, windows, external doors, roof, electrics, heating, fire alarms and lifts. Detailed guidance is still to come.
Keep lifecycle models for budgeting and forecasting, but base replacement decisions on condition evidence. A kitchen past its notional life but in reasonable repair may not need replacing yet; a younger one that has failed may. Surveys should also use the amended HHSRS, in force since 23 June 2026 (SI 2026/571), which revises scoring and cuts the hazards from 29 to 21. See the Decent Homes Standard guide.
Why validate before you order?
Stock records age, and orders placed from desktop data risk wasted visits, wrong sizes and work a home did not need. A validation survey before ordering should confirm:
- component condition against your stock record;
- measurements for manufacture, such as window sizes and kitchen layouts;
- access, scaffold and parking needs;
- asbestos information: the HSE says a refurbishment and demolition survey is needed before refurbishment work, especially in buildings built or refurbished before 2000;
- whether the building is a higher-risk building (18m or more, or 7 or more storeys, with 2 or more residential units). Building Safety Regulator approval is then needed before work starts and can take up to 8 weeks. Most repairs and like-for-like replacements are exempt, as is work done under a competent person scheme, but repair work to heating systems, oil tanks, fuse boxes and glazing units is not;
- resident needs, such as adaptations or vulnerability, and whether any flats are leasehold;
- hazards found on the day, which may need to go into your repairs and Awaab's Law processes.
Record the outcome for each home (confirm, defer or swap) with a reason.
When do multi-trade packages make sense?
Grouping works by home or block cuts repeat visits and shares costs such as scaffolding, which is a cost driver for roofs, external wall insulation, windows in blocks and solar PV. Common groupings include:
- roof, rainwater goods, windows and external wall insulation under one scaffold;
- kitchen, rewire and heating in a single programme of works for an occupied home;
- retrofit measures under a PAS 2035 Retrofit Coordinator (see Warm Homes and EPC C).
Multi-trade work brings CDM 2015 duties. Housing associations, councils and ALMOs are commercial clients, so the client duties apply in full. With more than one contractor you must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor. A project is notifiable to the HSE (form F10) if it lasts more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at once, or exceeds 500 person-days. Plan resident liaison as part of the package.
How should works data return to your asset system?
Agree a data template before work starts, and ask for returns with each completion rather than at programme end. For each property and component, record:
- what was installed or repaired, the date, and the product or specification;
- condition after works, with photos;
- certificates and notifications, such as gas and electrical records, and Part P notifications for new circuits or consumer units;
- warranties and manufacturer details;
- no-access and refusal attempts, with dates, so homes stay visible in the programme.
Update your stock condition records from these returns, so the next survey cycle, your RP01 figure and any inspection evidence reflect the work done.
How do leaseholder recharges and section 20 work?
In England and Wales, what you can recover from leaseholders depends first on each lease's repairing and service charge terms. Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, with its consultation regulations, then requires you to consult leaseholders before:
- qualifying works where any one leaseholder's contribution would be more than £250;
- a qualifying long-term agreement where any one leaseholder's contribution would be more than £100 a year.
If you do not consult properly, or obtain dispensation from the tribunal, recovery is capped at those amounts. The consultation steps differ where the contract has to be publicly advertised, so check which procedure applies. Window and roof replacement in blocks often brings section 20 into play.
For recharges, ask for prices broken down by block and by element, so that leasehold shares can be calculated and estimates match your consultation notices. Build the consultation periods into the programme from the start.
Section 20 is a technical area. Check the current legislation, or take advice, for your own case.
How we help
We carry out pre-start validation surveys and deliver planned works packages, returning completion data in the format your asset system needs. We can price by block and by element to support your section 20 consultation and recharges. Ask for a quote.
Common questions
When must homes meet the reformed Decent Homes Standard?
By 2035 at the latest, under the government response of 28 January 2026. Detailed guidance is still to come, so survey criteria may need updating once it is published.
What energy target applies to social homes in England?
EPC C on any one reformed EPC metric by 1 April 2030, and on a second by 1 April 2039. A £10,000 spend exemption applies per metric for each property.
Does cloned survey data count as a physical assessment?
No. Cloned or desktop data can help you plan, but the regulator expects records based on a physical assessment of all homes, so treat cloned records as provisional until a surveyor has visited.
Does section 20 apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
No. Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 applies in England and Wales. This guide does not cover recovering costs from owners in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Sources
- Regulator of Social Housing: Safety and Quality Standard
- Reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes: government response
- A decent home: definition and guidance
- Tenant satisfaction measures: technical requirements
- HHSRS (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026: parliamentary procedure record
- HSE: asbestos, what you must do
- Building control approval for higher-risk buildings
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, regulation 6
Checked 31 October 2026. This guide summarises the rules for planning purposes and is not legal advice; check the current legislation or take advice for your own case.
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