HHSRS Changes 2026: What Landlords Need to Know About the New Housing Hazard Rules
England's Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) was overhauled on 23 June 2026: hazards cut from 29 to 21, the ten A-J bands replaced by High/Medium/Low, and the four harm classes renamed. The minimum safety standard is unchanged; grouping, scoring and description are what changed.
The rules councils use to judge whether a rented home is safe changed this summer. On 23 June 2026, the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, better known as the HHSRS, was overhauled in England. The list of hazards has been cut from 29 to 21, and the old ten-band scoring has been replaced with three simple bands: High, Medium and Low.
The changes came in through the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. They apply in England only.
The main points: 29 hazards have become 21, with overlapping hazards merged; the ten bands A to J have been replaced with High, Medium and Low; the four classes of harm have been renamed Extreme, Severe, Serious and Moderate; and the 21 hazards are arranged into four groups - physiological requirements, psychological requirements, protection against infection and protection against accidents.
The new regulations do not change the minimum standard a home has to meet. Homes still have to be safe. What has changed is how hazards are grouped, scored and described.