Housing Health and Safety Rating System
Related Article
Imminent Risk, Emergency Remedial Action and Excess Cold
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council v Patel [2010] UKUT 334 (LC). Excess cold under HHSRS Housing Act 2004. Serious Harm refers to a hierarchy of harm and imminent risk relates to likelihood.
Tribunal Decision Clarifies Heating Requirements in Rental Properties
The Liverpool City Council court case has clarified the heating requirements landlords must provide, offering insight into HHSRS guidelines and tenant rights.
Power of Entry (HHSRS)
Section 239(2) Housing Act 2004 requires a local authority to give 24 hours notice to the owner and occupier of a property before inspecting for the purposes of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
HHSRS Possible Courses of Action and procedure
This guidance outlines the possible courses of action available to a local authority under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
Calculating a Hazard
How to calculate hazard under the housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS)
HHSRS - Summary of Cases
Below is a summary of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System appeals to both the Upper Tribunal and the Residential Property Tribunal. Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council v Patel [2010] UKUT 334 (LC) Clarify that an assessment under the Housing Health and Safety System is based on a "relevant occupier", not the "actual occupier". Also, A score of 31600 for an excess cold was described as "remarkably high". The central part of the case was when emergency remedial action might occur. It may be done when there is an "imminent risk" of "serious harm". Serious harm relates to the higher classes of harm used in the HHSRS calculation, and imminent risk means "a good chance that the harm will be suffered in the near future." Hanlet v Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council [2010] UKUT 351 (LC) If something complies with building regulations (or could easily be made to comply), this is a "material consideration" for a tribunal in deciding whether a hazard requires attention. It should be noted it's equally not definitive that something which complies with building regulations may also nonetheless be a hazard. Liverpool City Council v Kassim [2011] UKUT 169 (LC) The landlord Anwar Hadi Kassim had installed electric panel heaters contrary to Liverpool City Council's advice. The local authority presumably served an improvement notice seeking to replace the heating with something less expensive to run for the tenant. The local authority showed that for a two-bedroom house, the heating and hot water via electric panel heaters like those installed by the landlord on a standard tariff would cost on average £1826 per year. With modern fan-assisted storage radiators on Economy 7 tariff, the cost
Condensation Cases and HHSRS
there have been several cases showing that a landlord is not liable for condensation unless that condensation is caused by some structural defect
Overcrowding & Room Sizes
The legal standards covering overcrowding are contained in the Housing Act 1985 and cover all dwellings.