The Government has confirmed that landlords in the private rented sector (PRS) will not have to comply with the new Decent Homes Standards until 2035, provoking an angry response from both MPs and rent activist groups.

With one in five homes in the sector classed as “non-decent,” Labour MP Paula Barker (pictured) called the decision a “disgrace”, warning that families, individuals and children would remain in “dangerous, substandard housing” for years, with potential long-term impacts on health and wellbeing.

Absurd

Campaign groups were equally scathing. Generation Rent Chief Executive Ben Twomey

said it was “absurd to let landlords drag their feet for an entire decade”, arguing that millions of renters would be left “trapped living in poor-quality homes with nowhere to turn”.

Shelter Chief Executive Sarah Elliott said renters “simply can’t wait this long”, calling it “outrageous” that tenants paying high rents were being asked to wait almost ten years for the “basic protection of a decent home”.

Green light to continue profiting from rotten homes.”

Paul Shanks, from the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said the lack of urgency risked giving landlords “the green light to continue profiting from rotten homes”, with real consequences for tenant health and wellbeing.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook defended the timetable, telling the Guardian that it broadly aligns with the original rollout of the decent homes standard in the social rented sector, adding that the timeline would give landlords: “The certainty they need to boost housing supply as well as drive up the quality of the homes they manage”.

Ministers have also stressed that existing legal duties remain in force, with some measures, including energy efficiency requirements, due to be introduced sooner.