The Housing Act 2004 is a major law that will protect the most vulnerable people in society and help to create a fairer and better housing market.

Click here for the Government’s notes about the Housing Act 2004, including links to notes for people who want to understand the Act but have no specialist or legal knowledge.

These factsheets provide information about the Housing Act 2004. (These links will take you out of our website.)

• A summary of the main provisions
• The housing health and safety rating system (hhsrs)
• Houses in multiple occupation (hmo): licensing scope and schemes
• Houses in multiple occupation (hmo): licensing requirements
• The home information pack
• Home information packs
• Empty dwelling management orders
• Tenancy deposit schemes

Changes in the law

Protecting tenants’ deposits

Under the Housing Act 2004, tenants have their deposits protected for assured shorthold tenancies. This should remove the risk of landlords and letting agents keeping them illegally.

Click the links below if you would like to know more about protecting deposits. (These links will take you out of our website.)
Frequently asked questions
Fact Sheet
An Evaluation of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme
Tenancy Deposits Implementation: Scoping Study Report 2005

Empty homes

• mean waste, expense and missed opportunity
• harm communities
• attract vandals and squatters and
• use the resources of local authorities and the emergency services.

Bringing empty homes back into use is a good way of meeting future housing demand and reduces pressure to develop greenfield sites.

Click the links below for information issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government. (These links will take you out of our website.)

• Introduction

Background information on the empty homes and how they affect the community.

• Empty dwelling management orders

The Housing Act 2004 gives local authorities powers to take over managing privately-owned empty homes.

• Tax incentives

The Government has introduced a range of tax incentives to encourage people to use empty properties.

• Statistics

This link leads to data on the number of empty homes (vacant dwellings) broken down by local authority.

Publications on empty homes

• The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now the Department for Communities and Local Government) worked with property-related organisations to produce the following guidance on bringing empty property back into use. This section also includes information on research.

Empty property: unlocking the potential - an implementation handbook

Empty homes: temporary management, lasting solutions