A Practical Guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) assesses 29 housing hazards and the effect that each may have on the health and safety of current or future occupants of the property. The HHSRS provides a way that hazards can be assessed and the best way of dealing with them identified. This book will be a helpful guide for landlords, tenants and Environmental Health and Enforcement Officers. It sets out clearly what the HHSRS is, how it works in practice and what can be done about it or to enforce the same. Landlords will also benefit from the chapters focussing on what the enforcement notices are and how to understand them. For tenants, the book is designed to explain the process by which they engage Environmental Health and Enforcement Officers and what the consequences of doing so can be for them, as well as the landlord, good and bad. There are pitfalls each of these sets of people ought to be aware of. Some are obvious, others less so. It is also a good book for lawyers who work in this field and want a concise, easy to read overview of the entire system and in legal and procedural terms how it operates in practice. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rachel Coyle is a specialist property barrister who also works in commercial dispute resolution and private client. She acts in all types of commercial and property disputes, whether arising from contract, breach of duty, or otherwise. Rachel’s practice also encompasses contentious trusts, wills, and probate (including TOLATA and Inheritance Act claims) and insolvency. Rachel’s expertise in property and commercial law is founded on time spent working in hedging product mis-selling, volunteering in the procurement and commercial team at Stockport Homes, paralegal work at law firms such as DWF LLP and on secondments at Hyde Housing and OneSource. In the USA, she acted pro bono in property and planning matters in the State of Virginia whilst studying for her LLM in American Legal Studies. Clients that Rachel has worked with include global banks, U.K. solicitors’ firms with domestic and/or international clients, a Cypriot law firm, start-ups, private equity sponsors, local government departments and councils, large landowners and property management companies, charities, high net worth individuals and more vulnerable members of society. As part of her private client practice, she assists and represents trustees, beneficiaries and estates with inheritance and administration-related matters Rachel can assist with advice, negotiation, mediation and litigation to the Court of Appeal level. Rachel has appeared in the High Court in the Business and Property Courts, Companies Court, Queens Bench Division, Chancery Division and Administrative Division. She has built a strong experience in the County Court to multi track level. She also has experience in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and First-tier Tribunal (Land Registration) cases including service charges, enfranchisement, boundary disputes, easements, breaches of covenant, adverse possession and the Housing Act 2004. Rachel has a developing Cyber practice and has been instructed on numerous GDPR matters including breach of confidentiality claims, particularly concerning claims against public bodies and banks, often involving ECHR Article 8 private individual rights. She also accepts instructions in a developing area of interest, Equine Law. CONTENTS Chapter 1: Purpose Behind the HHSRS Chapter 2: Informal Approaches Chapter 3: Assessing Hazards Chapter 4: Different Hazards Chapter 5: HMOs Chapter 6: Cladding Chapter 7: Formal Enforcement Options Chapter 8: Rent Repayment Orders