HHSRS 2026: The 21 New Hazards Every Landlord Must Check

On 23 June 2026 the government published a complete replacement set of statutory guidance for the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) — the risk assessment tool councils use to decide whether a rented home is dangerous enough to act on. The headline change is that the 29 hazard profiles landlords have worked with since 2006 have been consolidated into 21, and the scoring process behind them has been simplified.

The reform is easy to misread in both directions. Some coverage has treated it as a new set of obligations landing on landlords. It is not: HHSRS has never imposed duties on landlords directly, and the 2026 review did not change that. Other coverage has waved it away as a paperwork tidy-up for council officers. That undersells it, because the assessment method and the checklist inspectors work from have both changed — and those determine whether a deficiency in your property gets written up as a Category 1 hazard.

This guide sets out what changed, lists all 21 hazards as published, explains which of the old 29 were merged and which detail the government has not published, covers what councils can and cannot do when they find a hazard, and untangles how HHSRS relates to Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard. It applies to England. Scotland and Wales are covered separately at the end.

What changed on 23 June 2026?

On 23 June 2026 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published a new suite of HHSRS documents: operating guidance, enforcement guidance, case studies, a landlord and agent guide, and a tenant guide. All five are dated 23 June 2026 and are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-guidance. The operating and enforcement guidance are statutory. The enforcement guidance is issued under section 9 of the Housing Act 2004, replaces the 2006 guidance, and is binding on local authorities.

The guidance describes the reform as the outcome of a review of the system, informed by consultation with over 1,000 stakeholders through focus groups, interviews and surveys. Four changes matter in practice.

• 29 hazards became 21. Several hazards were amalgamated to simplify assessment. The underlying risks did not disappear — they were folded into broader profiles.
• 16 likelihood categories became 4 bands. The old scoring asked an officer to place the likelihood of harm on a sixteen-point scale. It is now grouped into four bands, ranging from very likely to very unlikely.
• Baseline indicators were introduced. These are described in the guidance as "a checklist of reasonable standards that can be expected within a home to help identify deficiencies that should be assessed". Anything falling below the baseline is a deficiency that then gets assessed as a hazard.
• Category 2 was subdivided. Hazards scoring under 1,000 are now split into low risk and moderate risk rather than sitting in one undifferentiated band.

The landlord and agent guide also includes a self-assessment checklist based on the baseline indicators, at Appendix A. Using it is not mandatory. It is, however, the closest thing available to seeing your property the way an inspecting officer will see it, and it is free.

What are the 21 HHSRS hazards?

The 21 hazards, as listed in the government's 2026 tenant guide, are set out below. The hazard names in the first column are as published. The second and third columns are our plain-English summary of what each hazard covers and what most often triggers it in a rented home — they are a landlord's working aid, not statutory text. For the formal definitions and the assessment criteria, the HHSRS operating guidance is the authority — the hazard profiles sit in its Part 2.

What happened to the other eight hazards?

They were merged into broader profiles rather than abolished. This is the point most worth understanding, because "there are now fewer hazards" reads like deregulation and it is not. A risk previously assessed under its own heading is now assessed under a wider one — the officer still assesses it.

The guidance gives one worked example of the mapping: "falls on level surfaces and falls associated with baths and showers have been combined into a new hazard titled 'falls on level surfaces'". Beyond that example, the government has not published a full old-to-new concordance in the landlord and agent guide, and we are not going to invent one. If you need to know precisely which former profile your issue now sits under — for instance when responding to a notice that cites a hazard by name — the operating guidance holds the current definitions, and the assessing officer should be able to tell you which profile they used.

What the published list itself shows is the shape of the consolidation. A single "chemical and combustion related air pollutants" profile now covers ground the old system split across several separately named pollutant hazards. "Fire and explosions" is one heading where the old list separated the two. "Domestic and personal hygiene" merges more than one former hygiene heading. And "collisions, entrapment and ergonomics" absorbs the question of how usable and well-positioned amenities are, previously assessed on its own.

Does this change what councils can do?

No. The enforcement framework under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 is unchanged by the 2026 review. What changed is how officers arrive at a score, not what they may do with it.

The banding logic is also unchanged at the threshold that matters. A hazard scoring 1,000 or more is a Category 1 hazard. A hazard scoring between 0 and 999 is a Category 2 hazard — now subdivided into low risk and moderate risk. The guidance published for landlords does not state the score that separates low from moderate within Category 2, so if that distinction matters to your case, ask the council which band they applied and on what basis.

The duty split is the part landlords should commit to memory. Local authorities must take enforcement action where they find a Category 1 hazard. For Category 2 hazards they have a power to act, exercised at their discretion. In the words of the tenant guide, "while local councils are legally obliged to act on Category 1 hazards, Category 2 hazards are only dealt with if they feel it is necessary to do so."

The enforcement options

• Hazard awareness notice — formal notification of a hazard, with no requirement to carry out work. The lightest option.
• Improvement notice — requires specified remedial work within a specified period. The most common response to a Category 1 hazard in the private rented sector.
• Prohibition order — prohibits use of all or part of the dwelling, for example closing off a dangerous room or limiting occupancy.
• Emergency remedial action — the council carries out the work itself where there is imminent risk of serious harm, and recovers the cost from you.
• Emergency prohibition order — immediate prohibition where the risk is imminent and serious.
• Demolition order and clearance area — the extreme end of the scale, rare in the private rented sector.

Failure to comply with an improvement notice is an offence under the Housing Act 2004. Councils can also carry out works in default and recover the cost, pursue a financial penalty as an alternative to prosecution, or prosecute. A tenant may separately apply for a rent repayment order in the circumstances where those are available.

How do HHSRS, Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard fit together?

Three separate regimes now point at the condition of the same property, and they are constantly confused with one another. They do genuinely different jobs, and the practical difference is who acts, and on what clock.

The interlock is worth saying plainly: the Decent Homes Standard defines part of its bar by reference to HHSRS Category 1 hazards, and Awaab's Law sets deadlines for responding to hazards. So the 2026 changes to how hazards are assessed feed into the other two regimes without either of them being amended.

What is not yet in force for private landlords

Both extensions are legislated for but not commenced — worth stating plainly, because a lot of published advice implies otherwise. Awaab's Law is extended to privately rented homes by the Renters' Rights Act, but the government's own guide states that regulations will set the requirements and that it will consult and set out further detail in due course. No commencement date for the private rented sector has been announced. Our explainer on section 60 and the private rented sector tracks the position, and what Awaab's Law means for damp and mould responsibilities covers the substance of the duty.

The Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector is in the same position. The government consulted between 2 July and 10 September 2025, the Renters' Rights Act permits regulations, and no implementation date is specified. Dates circulating in trade press vary by several years — treat them as unconfirmed. See our guide to the Decent Homes Standard for private landlords.

A room-by-room HHSRS self-check for landlords

This walk-through is built around the hazards that generate the most enforcement in rented homes. It is not the statutory assessment — only a qualified officer performs that, and the baseline indicators in the guidance are the formal reference — but working through it before an inspection will surface most of what an officer would write up. Take dated photographs as you go; evidence of when a defect appeared and when you responded is the single most useful thing to have if a notice arrives.

• Every room: working smoke alarm on each storey, tested and dated. Carbon monoxide alarm in every room with a fixed combustion appliance.
• Every room: check for damp staining, black mould at cold bridges, peeling paint and musty smell — behind furniture and inside built-in wardrobes, not just on open walls.
• Every room: heating reaches and holds a comfortable temperature in winter; radiators sized for the room and actually working. Ask the tenant whether they can afford to run it — affordability is part of the excess cold assessment.
• Every room: assess summer overheating too. South or west facing glazing with no shading, no openable window, or a top-floor flat with no cross-ventilation are the excess heat markers.
• Kitchen: working extract ventilation to outside, not recirculating. Hob not directly under a window or beside a door. Adequate worktop and a safe position for the cooker.
• Kitchen: no exposed or damaged wiring near water; sockets at a safe distance from the sink; no trailing extension leads doing permanent work.
• Bathroom: extract fan present, working and vented outside. Slip resistance in the bath or shower. Hot water not delivered scalding.
• Bathroom: sanitation and drainage sound — no leaks, no blocked or slow waste, seals intact around bath and shower tray.
• Stairs and landings: continuous handrail, even risers, no worn or loose covering, adequate lighting with a switch at both ends.
• Windows above ground floor: restrictors fitted where the sill is low. Balustrades and balcony rails secure and at adequate height.
• Electrical: valid Electrical Installation Condition Report, residual current device protection at the consumer unit, no scorching or damage at sockets and switches.
• Gas and heating: current Gas Safety Record, boiler and flue serviced, ventilation to appliances unobstructed and not blocked up by the tenant.
• Fire: escape route clear from every bedroom to the final exit; no bedroom accessible only through a kitchen; doors closing properly where they are fire doors.
• Security: door and window locks in working order, external and communal lighting functional, entry door not damaged.
• Occupancy: number of occupants against room sizes and against any House in Multiple Occupation licence conditions. Overcrowding is assessed under crowding and space.
• External: roof, chimney, render, gutters and downpipes sound; paths and steps even; retaining walls stable; refuse storage adequate and pest-resistant.
• Pre-1970s stock: consider lead paint and lead pipework before any work that will disturb surfaces, and asbestos in Artex, insulating board, pipe lagging and garage roofs.

Two of these deserve a specific mention because they are where the law has moved recently. Damp and mould is the hazard with the most political attention behind it and the one Awaab's Law was written for — our guide to handling damp and mould in a rental property covers diagnosis and the response landlords should document. And excess cold overlaps directly with energy efficiency obligations, so work you do for EPC requirements generally reduces your excess cold exposure at the same time.

What should I do if I receive an improvement notice?

Read it immediately and diarise every date on it. An improvement notice specifies the hazard, the works required and the period for completing them, and in most cases the consequences of missing the deadline are materially worse than the cost of the works. The guidance for landlords is blunt about this: study the documents carefully and meet the deadlines.

1. Check what the notice actually requires. Identify the hazard cited, the category assigned, the specific works listed and the completion date. If any of it is unclear, ask the officer who served it — that conversation is normal and expected.
2. Check the appeal window. There is a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against an improvement notice, and it is time-limited. The period runs from service of the notice, so establish the deadline on day one rather than after you have finished negotiating.
3. Talk to the council before you appeal. Many disputes are about scope or timescale rather than whether a hazard exists. Councils will often vary a notice where a landlord engages early with a credible programme of works. An appeal is slower, more expensive and more adversarial than a phone call.
4. Get the works properly specified. Fixing the symptom rather than the cause — repainting over mould instead of dealing with the ventilation or the penetrating damp — will not discharge the notice and will lose you the time you had.
5. Document everything. Quotes, contractor appointments, dated before and after photographs, correspondence with the tenant about access. If you cannot complete on time because the tenant refused access, you need a written record of having tried.
6. Confirm discharge in writing. When the works are done, ask the council to re-inspect and confirm the notice is satisfied. Do not assume completion equals discharge.

For the wider picture on what non-compliance costs across the different regimes, see our overview of landlord penalties for non-compliance, and the 2026 landlord compliance checklist for the full annual cycle.

Does HHSRS apply in Scotland and Wales?

Housing is devolved, and this matters more than most landlords realise. The 23 June 2026 guidance was published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and applies in England.

Scotland does not use HHSRS at all. Scottish rented property is assessed against the Repairing Standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, enforced through the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) rather than through council hazard notices. A landlord operating on both sides of the border is working two different systems, and nothing in this article transfers.

Wales operates under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 and its fitness for human habitation regulations, which use hazard concepts drawn from the same Housing Act 2004 framework. Because the 2026 guidance is English, Welsh landlords should confirm the current Welsh Government position rather than assuming the new 21-hazard list has been adopted in Wales. Northern Ireland is a separate regime again.