What are the Healthy Homes Standards?

Each standard has detailed rules underneath it, but the headline requirements are:

Start with the paperwork. Landlords must include Healthy Homes compliance information in the tenancy agreement, so ask to see it before you sign rather than after. If the agreement is silent on compliance, that silence is itself information, and worth raising before you sign.

At a viewing you can verify most of it with your own eyes. Find the fixed heater and ask what size the living room is. Look for fans in the kitchen and bathroom and ask whether they vent outdoors or just into the ceiling cavity. Glance under the house if access is easy. A portable plug-in heater sitting in the lounge does not satisfy the heating standard.

The standards set minimums, not comfort. A compliant house can still be cold if it faces away from the sun, and a compliant heater still costs money to run. They apply to the dwelling itself, not to how it is lived in, so day-to-day airing and heating remain part of keeping any house dry. Curtains, double glazing and the cost of power are outside the standards entirely.

Treat compliance as the floor. Judge warmth, dryness and sun for yourself at the viewing, ideally on a cold day when the house cannot hide anything.

Raise it with the landlord in writing first, with specifics: which standard, which room, what is missing. Many issues get fixed at this point because the obligations are clear and well known.

If nothing happens, Tenancy Services can advise on next steps, and the Tenancy Tribunal can order work to be done. Keep copies of what you sent and any responses, because dates and details decide these cases.