How the council scores your property. HHSRS in plain English.
Every enforcement notice is built on a Housing Health and Safety Rating System assessment. If you understand how the scoring works, you can see whether the notice stands up.
Guide by Damion Robinson MCIOB MCIEH. Law and figures checked 01/10/2026. This is general information, not legal advice about your case.
The idea
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System replaced the old fitness standard in 2006. It doesn’t ask whether a property is fit. It asks how likely a hazard is to cause harm over the next 12 months to the age group most at risk from it, and how bad that harm would be. The two are combined into a numerical score. A score of 1,000 or more is a category 1 hazard. Anything below that is category 2.
What changed on 23 June 2026
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 came into force on 23 June 2026, with new operating and enforcement guidance published alongside them. The 29 hazards were merged into 21, still grouped under physiological requirements, psychological requirements, protection against infection and protection against accidents. Damp and mould, excess cold, falls on stairs, fire, electrical hazards, crowding and space, and entry by intruders are the ones that produce most notices.
The old bands A to J were replaced by three. High is a score of 1,000 or more and is category 1. Medium is 100 to 999 and Low is under 100, and both are category 2. The line between category 1 and category 2 hasn’t moved. The four classes of harm are now called extreme, severe, serious and moderate. The guidance also brings in baseline indicators, which describe what an acceptable standard looks like for things like heating, damp, stair handrails and window restrictors. They aren’t legal minimums, but falling short of one counts as a deficiency and feeds the score.
The new system applies to inspections carried out on or after 23 June 2026. A notice built on an earlier inspection will still talk about 29 hazards and lettered bands, where A to C meant category 1. Check the inspection date before you check anything else, because it tells you which rulebook the officer should have used.
The new £7,000 penalty
Since 22 June 2026 a council that takes enforcement action over a category 1 hazard can also impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000, under the new section 6A of the Housing Act 2004. The council has to form the opinion that it would have been reasonably practicable for the responsible person to have removed the hazard, and the Act doesn’t set a standard of proof for that. How long you knew about it, what you did, whether trades or permissions held you up and whether the tenant gave access all go to that question. There’s a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. It’s one more reason to keep dated records of what was reported and what was repaired.
Why the scoring is arguable
The likelihood is expressed as a ratio, one in so many, over the next 12 months. The harm is spread across the four classes. Both come from the officer’s judgement, informed by the averages and worked examples in the guidance. That judgement can be right, but it’s a judgement. An officer who scores a loose stair carpet as a one in 30 chance of a fall, when the average for that kind of dwelling is much lower and the carpet has since been fixed, has produced a score that’s unlikely to survive a tribunal.
The age group matters too. Each hazard is scored for the group most at risk from it, the over 60s for a fall on the level for example. The assessment is about that group whether or not they live there now, so “my tenant is a fit 30 year old” doesn’t help. But the condition of the property is assessed as it actually is, and works done before the inspection count.
What category 1 means for the council
A category 1 hazard triggers a duty. The council has to take the most appropriate enforcement action from the list in the Act. Category 2 gives it a power, not a duty. So the first question on any notice is which category the officer has landed on and whether the score supports it. Moving a hazard from category 1 to category 2 doesn’t make it go away, but it changes what the council can lawfully demand.
Reading the assessment
Ask the council for the officer’s scoring sheet and the evidence behind it. Most councils will send it. Compare the deficiencies listed against the property as it is, check the likelihood and harm figures against the guidance, and look at whether the remedial action addresses the deficiency or goes beyond it. That comparison is the core of every response to a notice.
LS-01 Council enforcement response, £250
Fixed price, confirmed in writing before you commit. Council and tribunal fees at cost on top.
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