National statistics

Chapter 4: Dwelling condition

Published 14 December 2023

Applies to England

Introduction

This chapter begins by presenting levels of overcrowding and under-occupation, followed by an assessment of EHS housing quality measures: decent homes, HHSRS and damp by tenure. It ends by discussing the presence of a working smoke alarm and the household frequency of testing smoke alarms.

For an introduction and summary of main findings in this report as a whole, please see the Introduction and Key Findings page.

Overcrowding and under-occupation

Levels of overcrowding and under-occupation are measured using the bedroom standard (see glossary for more detail). This is essentially the difference between the number of bedrooms needed to avoid undesirable sharing (given the number, ages and relationship of the household members) and the number of bedrooms actually available to the household.

Since the number of overcrowded households included in each survey year is too small to enable reliable overcrowding estimates for any single year, data from the three most recent survey years were combined to produce the overcrowding estimates in this section.

The overall rate of overcrowding in England in 2022-23 was 3%, with approximately 708,000 households living in overcrowded conditions. This is similar to 2021-22 where around 732,000 households were overcrowded (3%), Annex Table 4.1.

Overcrowding was more prevalent in the rented sectors than for owner occupiers. In 2022-23, 1% of owner occupiers (148,000 households) were overcrowded compared with 8% of social renters (328,000) and 5% of private renters (232,000).

Figure 4.1: Overcrowding, by tenure, 1995-96 to 2022-23

^{Base: all households
Notes:
1) data are based on three year averages, which are the average of the three years up to and including the labelled date
2) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.1
Sources:
1995-96 to 2007-08: Survey of English Housing;
2008-09 onwards: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

The overall rate of under-occupation in England in 2022-23 was 40% with around 9.8 million households living in under-occupied homes, Annex Table 4.2.

Under-occupation was much more prevalent among owner occupiers than in the rented sectors. Over half (55%) of owner occupied households (8.7 million households) were under-occupied in 2022-23 compared with 16% of private rented (743,000) and 10% of social rented (391,000) households.

The overall proportion of under-occupied households among owner occupiers in England increased between 2012-13 and 2022-23 from 50% (7.1 million households) to 55% (8.7 million households), continuing the upward trend. No change was seen among renters over the same time period, Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2: Under-occupation, by tenure, 1995-96 to 2022-23

^{Base: all households
Note: underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.2
Sources:
1995-96 to 2007-08: Survey of English Housing
2008-09 onwards: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

Dwelling quality and condition

The combined 2022 dwelling dataset includes dwelling data collected through full physical surveys in 2022-23 and ‘external plus’ surveys in 2021-22. The headline figures for this report use a hybrid variable that combines actual measured data from 2022-23 with modelled data from 2021-22, which include vacant dwellings.

Housing quality measures modelled during the COVID-19 period (2020 and 2021) are for occupied dwellings only. Comparisons made with previous years should be considered with caution. Where appropriate, we have made additional comparisons with pre-pandemic data (2019).

Decent homes

For a dwelling to be considered ‘decent’ under the Decent Homes Standard it must:

• meet the statutory minimum standard for housing (the Housing Health and Safety System (HHSRS) since April 2006), homes which contain a Category 1 hazard under the HHSRS are considered non-decent

• provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort

• be in a reasonable state of repair

• have reasonably modern facilities and services

In 2022, 15% or 3.7 million dwellings failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard. Between 2011 and 2019, there was a notable reduction in the prevalence of non-decent dwellings across all tenures, Annex Table 4.3.

Private rented dwellings had the highest proportion of non-decent homes (21%) while the social rented sector had the lowest (10%). Among owner occupied homes, 14% failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard, Figure 4.3

Both social rented and owner occupied dwellings saw a decrease in levels of non-decency in 2022 compared to 2019. The apparent decrease in non-decent homes in the private rented sector is statistically insignificant.

Figure 4.3: Non-decent homes, by tenure, 2011 to 2022

^{Base: 2011-2019 and 2022 all dwellings; 2020-2021, occupied dwellings
Notes:
1) 2020 and 2021 figures are estimated based on dwelling level modelled data
2) 2020 were revised from extrapolated to dwelling modelled data and marked with an (R)
3) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.3
Sources:
2011-2019 English Housing Survey, dwelling sample
2020-2021 English Housing Survey, modelled data based on occupied dwelling sample
2022 English Housing survey dwelling sample, modelled and observed data based on all dwellings}

Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS), published alongside this report, show that 8% of local authority homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard in 2023. The LAHS figures show a lower proportion of non-decent homes because only the properties that local authorities have been made aware of (e.g. after a property is vacated or if the tenant raises an issue) are included in the count. Cases where tenants have refused improvement work are also excluded.

Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

The HHSRS is a risk-based assessment that identifies hazards in dwellings and evaluates their potential effects on the health and safety of occupants and their visitors, particularly vulnerable people. The most serious hazards are called Category 1 hazards and where these exist in a home, it fails to meet the statutory minimum standard for housing in England.

In 2022, 8% or 2.1 million  dwellings in England had a HHSRS Category 1 hazard, less than in 2021 (9%). Such hazards were more prevalent in the private rented dwellings (12%) than owner occupied (9%) or social rented dwellings (4%), Annex Table 4.4 and Figure 4.4.

Compared to pre-COVID measurements, the proportion of owner occupied dwellings with Category 1 hazards fell from 10% in 2019 to 9% in 2022. Similarly, social rented dwellings decreased from 5% of dwellings to 4% with a Category 1 hazard. The apparent decrease in the proportion of PRS dwellings with a Category 1 hazard was statistically insignificant.

Figure 4.4: Homes with Category 1 hazards, by tenure, 2011 to 2022

^{Base: 2011-2019 and 2022 All dwellings; 2020-2021 Occupied dwellings
Notes:
1) 2020 and 2021 figures are estimated based on dwelling level modelled data
2) 2020 figures were revised from extrapolated to dwelling modelled data and marked with an (R)
3) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.4
Sources:
2011-2019 English Housing Survey, dwelling sample
2020-2021 English Housing Survey, modelled data based on occupied dwelling sample
2022 English Housing survey dwelling sample, modelled and observed data based on all dwellings}

Damp

In the English Housing Survey, a home is considered to have damp or a problem with damp if the surveyor records damp which is significant enough to be taken into consideration when making their HHSRS assessments. Therefore, minor issues of damp are not recorded and, for consistency, would not be part of the modelled data. In 2022, the data presented for 2022 contains hybrid data combining actual measured data with modelled data. Comparisons with previous years should be considered with caution.

In 2022, 4% or 1 million  dwellings had a problem with damp. Between 1996 and 2011, there was a sizable reduction in the prevalence of all dwellings with any damp problems, however incidences of damp have increased since 2019 from 3%, Annex Table 4.5 and Figure 4.5. While this goes against the general trend of improvement, it is not necessarily surprising - due to the COVID-19 national lockdowns the rate of maintenance and repairs could have slowed or stalled, making remediation of damp problems difficult.

Figure 4.5: Damp problems, 1996 to 2022

^{Base: 1996-2019 and 2022 All dwellings; 2020-2021 Occupied dwellings
Notes:
1) 2020 and 2021 figures are estimated based on dwelling level modelled data
2) 2020 have been revised from extrapolated to dwelling modelled data and marked with an (R)
3) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.5
Sources:
1996-2007: English House Condition Survey, dwelling sample
2010-2019 English Housing Survey, dwelling sample
2020-2021 English Housing Survey, modelled data based on occupied dwelling sample
2022 English Housing survey dwelling sample, modelled and observed data based on all dwellings}

Damp problems were more prevalent in private rented dwellings, with 9% reported to have a problem in 2022, compared to 5% of social renters and just 2% of owner occupiers, Annex Table 4.6 and Figure 4.6. This is not surprising given dwellings in the private sector were on average older and more likely to have defects that could lead to damp.

When compared to 2019 (pre-COVID), there was an increase from 7% of private rented dwellings with damp to 9% in 2022. Within the social sector, no statistically significant change was observed compared to 2019. In 2022, 7% of local authority dwellings and 4% of housing association dwellings had damp. Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6: Dwellings with any damp problems, 2021 and 2022

^{Base: 2022 All dwellings, 2021 Occupied dwellings
Notes:
1) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.6
Source:
2021 English Housing Survey, modelled data based on occupied dwelling sample
2022 English Housing survey dwelling sample, modelled and observed data based on all dwellings}

Smoke alarms

In 2022-23, 93% of households reported at least one working smoke alarm. The proportion of households with working smoke alarms varied by tenure. Social renters were most likely to report having at least one working smoke alarm (96%), compared with 91% of owner occupiers, and 93% of private renters, Annex Table 4.7 and Figure 4.7.

Between 2012-13 and 2022-23, the proportion of households with a working smoke alarm increased from 88% to 93%.

Figure 4.7: Households with at least one working smoke alarm, by tenure, 2008-09 to 2022-23

^{Base: all households
Notes:
1) data was not collected in 2009-10
2) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.7
Source: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

While the proportion of households with smoke alarms increased over the last decade, over a fifth of households (23%) reported they had never tested their smoke alarm in 2022-23, higher than the 21% of households in 2021-22 who reported never testing their smoke alarm, Annex Table 4.8. (Smoke alarms have previously been explored in more detail in the 2014-15 Smoke Alarms in English Homes Report),

In 2022-23, 29% of private renters, 28% of social renters and 20% of owner occupiers reported that they had never tested their smoke alarm. The proportion of owner occupiers who had never tested their smoke alarm was higher than in 2021-22 (17%), compared to other tenures.

Technical notes and glossary

For technical information regarding caveats in this report, please see the technical note.

For a detailed glossary of terms please see the glossary.