Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the standard of privately rented houses.

The private rented sector (PRS) has some of the worst housing of all tenures with over a fifth of the 4.6 million households that rent privately enduring poor conditions and lacking security and control over the homes they pay to live in. Many renters are forced to live in sub-standard conditions, impacting their physical and mental health.

The Levelling Up White Paper set out our ambition to reduce halve the number of non-decent homes by 50% by 2030 with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas, highlighting our commitment to level up the sector and ensure all renters have good quality homes.

Everyone has the right to a safe and secure home. That is why we plan to introduce a Decent Homes Standard in the PRS in our upcoming Renters Reform Bill, the first government to ever do so.