Housing Standards Team

The Housing Standards Team is part of Bradford Council. We can help people who are private sector tenants or social housing tenants in Bradford with things like getting repairs done and making sure that their landlords deal with housing defects (hazards) properly. Please be aware that we do not deal with other tenancy issues such as reclaiming money from landlords or how much rent is being paid.

What does the Housing Standards Team do?

The Housing Standards Team makes sure that landlords and owners of properties in Bradford District meet their duties relating to housing standards. These duties include:

• Making sure that houses and flats that are rented out are safe and free from hazards.
• Carrying out housing repairs promptly, especially where these are urgent.
• Providing enough Smoke and Carbon Monoxide alarms and repairing or replacing these if necessary
• Providing an Energy Performance Certificate and only setting up new tenancies if the EPC rating is E or above (this will also apply to existing tenancies from April 2020) - this is called the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES).
• Lettings and Management Agents joining an approved redress scheme.

The Housing Standards Team also deal with issues relating to statutory nuisance (relating to flats or houses) and some drainage issues.

What type of housing hazards are dealt with?

We deal with housing hazards such as damp and mould, excess cold, overcrowding and fire safety. You can find more information about the type of hazards that the team deal with on our Housing Health and Safety Rating page.

What action can the Housing Standards Team take?

The Housing Standards Team provides advice and support to landlords and agents so that they know what is expected of them. We will also normally try to help tenants and landlords sort out issues between themselves, where possible.

If it is not possible to sort issues out informally, the Housing Standards Team may take enforcement action.

Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)

The Housing Standards Team also deal with Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). Extra standards apply for tenanted “bedsits” and shared houses (which are usually classed as HMOs) and some HMOs must be licensed by the Council.