Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) guidance
This collection brings together all documents relating to Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) guidance.
The HHSRS is used to assess health and safety hazards in homes. It is risk-based, set out in regulation and covers a range of 21 potential hazards. An HHSRS assessment evaluates the potential risk of harm to an occupier and rates the seriousness of any hazard identified. It’s used by councils when they enforce standards in rented properties, it’s fundamental to the Decent Homes Standard that social housing must meet, and in government we assess, through the English Housing Survey, levels of health and safety hazards in homes across England.
The HHSRS was introduced through regulation in 2006. In 2026 new regulations brought into force a review of the system. The review was carried out by leading academics and experienced technical experts, A multi-method approach was taken with regard to engagement with stakeholders, using a combination of regional online focus groups, one-to-one interviews and online surveys, was undertaken. Over 1,000 stakeholders with specialist experience and relevance to the HHSRS and housing sector contributed to the consultation.
The review introduces an updated assessment and scoring process, including new descriptive terms, as well as amalgamating hazards that are statistically similar in terms of their likelihood and harm, reducing the number of hazards from 29 to 21. As well as new statutory operating and enforcement guidance, a new suite of illustrated case studies and new baseline indicators for achieving safety against each hazard have been introduced.
Guidance
Updates to this page
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Added new guidance pages.
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Added Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS): review outcomes and next steps.
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Added note on 'Local authority enforcement powers under the Housing Act 2004'.
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Added Housing health and safety rating system: assessment of high-rise residential buildings with cladding systems
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First published.