How does the recent changes to HHSRS 22nd of June 2026 effect Landlords?
Quick Answer
On 23 June 2026 the government issued new statutory HHSRS guidance for England. The 29 original hazards were amalgamated into 21 categories, with an updated assessment and scoring system, new baseline safety indicators and revised enforcement guidance. Landlords still have the same underlying duties — the categories were merged, not removed.
## What actually changed on 23 June 2026
On **23 June 2026** the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a new suite of statutory guidance for the **Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)** in England. This follows 2026 regulations that brought into force a full review of the system, carried out by leading academics and technical experts with input from over 1,000 stakeholders.
The headline change is that the **number of HHSRS hazards has been reduced from 29 to 21**. Alongside this, MHCLG has issued:
- New statutory **Operating Guidance**
- New statutory **Enforcement Guidance**
- A new **Landlord and Agent guide** and **Tenant guide**
- New illustrated **case studies**
- New **baseline safety indicators** for each hazard
The commonly-cited "22 June 2026" date refers to when the regulations came into force; the guidance documents landlords will actually work from are dated **23 June 2026**.
## Why 29 became 21 (this is important)
The review did **not** remove hazards. It **amalgamated** categories that were statistically similar in terms of likelihood of occurrence and severity of harm. In practice this means:
- The underlying risks a landlord must manage are unchanged.
- What has changed is how those risks are grouped, assessed and scored.
- If something was a hazard under the old 29, it is almost certainly still a hazard under the new 21 — just sitting inside a broader category.
Treating the reduction as a relaxation of duties is a common misreading and will not be defensible if a council serves enforcement action.
## New assessment and scoring approach
The 2026 guidance introduces:
- An **updated assessment and scoring process** with new descriptive terms.
- **Baseline indicators** for what "safe" looks like against each of the 21 hazards, so assessments are more consistent between officers.
- Refreshed case studies to show how the new scoring should be applied in real properties.
Assessments still result in either a **Category 1** hazard (councils must take enforcement action) or a **Category 2** hazard (councils have discretion).
## Enforcement — what councils can do
Enforcement continues under **Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004**, but is now interpreted through the new 2026 Enforcement Guidance. Councils can take any of the following actions where hazards are identified:
- **Improvement notice** — requires the landlord to carry out specified remedial works.
- **Prohibition order** — restricts or bans use of all or part of a property.
- **Hazard awareness notice** — formal notification of a hazard requiring action.
- **Emergency remedial action** — the council carries out works itself and recovers costs.
- **Emergency prohibition order** — immediate restriction where there is imminent risk.
- **Demolition order** or **clearance area** in the most serious cases.
Failure to comply with a notice is a criminal offence and can also attract a **civil penalty** as an alternative to prosecution, on top of Rent Repayment Orders where the qualifying conditions are met.
## What landlords must do now
1. **Read the new Landlord and Agent guide** (gov.uk, 23 June 2026) and re-familiarise yourself with the 21 hazard categories.
2. **Refresh your property risk assessments** against the new baseline safety indicators — do not assume old assessments carry over cleanly.
3. **Update your compliance and inspection templates** so any managing agent is inspecting against the 21-category framework, not the old 29.
4. **Retrain in-house staff or agents** on the new scoring descriptors so evidence is captured consistently.
5. **Review your maintenance backlog** with the new categories in mind — some items previously seen as low-risk may now sit inside a broader Category 1 hazard.
6. **Document your review**. If a council later serves a notice, being able to show a dated, structured post-June-2026 reassessment is your strongest defence.
## Sources and further reading (gov.uk)
- [HHSRS guidance collection](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-guidance) — updated 23 June 2026
- [HHSRS: Operating guidance](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-operating-guidance) — statutory
- [HHSRS: Enforcement guidance](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-enforcement-guidance) — statutory
- [HHSRS: Landlord and agent guide](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-landlord-and-agent-guide)
- [HHSRS: Tenant guide](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-tenant-guide)
- [HHSRS: Case studies](https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-hhsrs-case-studies)
- [Local authority enforcement powers under the Housing Act 2004](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-enforcement-powers-under-the-housing-act-2004)
Steven's Take
Every landlord I speak to reads "29 down to 21" and hears "fewer rules." That is the wrong read. The regulator did not delete a third of your duties overnight — it merged categories that behaved similarly in the data. The real work now is boring but essential: refresh your assessments against the new baseline indicators, update your inspection templates, and make sure your agent is scoring against the 2026 framework, not the 2006 one. Councils will take a dim view of anyone who mistook amalgamation for amnesty.
What You Can Do Next
Download the new gov.uk Landlord and Agent guide dated 23 June 2026 and read the 21 hazard categories in full.
Reassess every property against the new baseline safety indicators — do not carry pre-June 2026 assessments over unchecked.
Update your inspection and compliance templates to the 21-category framework and retrain any managing agent on the new scoring descriptors.
Prioritise remedial works on anything that could now fall inside a Category 1 hazard under the amalgamated groupings.
Keep a dated written record of your post-23-June-2026 review — it is your first line of defence if a council serves an improvement notice.
Diary a 12-month review cycle so assessments stay aligned with any further MHCLG updates.
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