UK heatwave leaves renters boiling as 1m private rent homes fail basic standards

More than a million privately rented homes are failing basic living standards - as soaring temperatures leave renters boiling.

One in five privately rented homes would fail the government's Decent Homes Standard.

And of those, almost 400,000 can't be maintained at liveable temperatures, according to Lib Dem analysis of House of Commons data.

The party is calling on the government to commit to an emergency home insulation programme and urgently implement new decent home standards. "The condition of rented homes is shameful," Lib Dem Energy Spokesperson Pippa Heylings said.

"After years of Conservative failure to commit to upgrading homes and implementing new decent standards, renters now pay through the nose for homes that don't meet the basic standards of safety and health. This cannot continue."

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as soaring temperatures leave renters boiling.

Half a million (496,000) privately rented homes - more than 10% of all private rented accommodation in the country - are rated with category 1 hazards. This is the most serious rating and poses serious and immediate risk to people’s health and safety.

A further 298,000 homes were deemed not in a reasonable state of repair - this could mean anything from not being structurally sound, to damp, rot and pest infestations.

And another 88,000 privately rented homes failed DHS because they did not have suitable modern services and facilities such as a working toilet.