Health and safety regulations
Health and safety regulations
Our first priority at Settle is to keep residents safe in their homes.
We work to meet all of the health and safety requirements we have as a landlord, including health and safety legislation, and requirements in the standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. These requirements include: providing a home that is safe, of a “decent” standard, and fit for human habitation.
Find out more about the health and safety legislation we work to below.
The Decent Homes Standard outlines the minimum standards for the condition of social homes, and is set out by the government.
The Decent Homes Standard was last revised in 2006 and states that a home is decent if all of the following apply:
- The home is in a reasonable state of repair
- The home has reasonably modern facilities and services
- The home provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
The housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS) is a risk-based evaluation tool to help local authorities identify and protect against potential risks and hazards to health and safety from any deficiencies identified in rented housing, including social housing. It was introduced under the Housing Act 2004 and applies to residential properties in England and Wales.
Under the HHSRS a local authority:
- Carries out inspections of rented housing
- Identifies whether any specified hazards are present
- Categorises those hazards according to objective criteria.
The HHSRS regulation lists 29 potential health and safety hazards in rented housing. A hazard is any risk of harm to the health or safety of an actual or potential occupier of accommodation that arises from a deficiency in the dwelling, building or land in the vicinity.
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 is a law which ensures that rented houses and flats are ‘fit for human habitation’, which means that they are safe, healthy and free from things that could cause serious harm.
A property might be unfit for human habitation because of:
- Disrepair
- Damp and mould
- Water or sanitation problems
- Health and safety hazards
If a home is unfit for human habitation in one of the above ways, we as your landlord must take steps to remedy this. We might need to make improvements to the property, as well as carrying out repairs to remedy a defect.
The Safety and Quality Standard is one of the Consumer Standards introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing in April 2024. The Consumer Standards are regulatory standards which define the expectations and required outcomes that landlords must deliver.
The Safety and Quality Standard covers Settle’s priority to provide safe and well-maintained homes for residents. This includes:
- Having a good understanding of the condition of Settle homes
- Making sure Settle homes are safe
- How we deliver repairs and planned improvements, and
- Helping residents to access the right adaptations for their homes.
We fulfil all regulatory responsibilities and often do more than we are legally required to do regarding resident safety, reflecting the importance we place on this.
To find out more about safety in your home and our role around the safety checks we are legally required to complete, visit the Safety in your home section of our website.
For more information on our repairs timescales, visit our Repairs and maintenance standard.
How we can support you
We want to make it as easy as possible to access information about safety in your home and the health and safety regulations we work to. We can provide printed copies of the information on this page, and provide this in large print, Braille or a different language if English isn’t your first language. Please contact us on 0330 343 0016 if you would like to arrange this.
If you would like to report a repair or any health and safety concerns you have, contact us by calling us on 0330 343 0016.
Related pages
Repairs and maintenance standard