The Housing Act 2004 (c. 34) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. It introduced Home Information Packs, which have since been abandoned. It also significantly extends the regulation of

houses in multiple occupation A house in multiple occupation (HMO), or a house of multiple occupancy, is a British English term which refers to residential properties where 'common areas' exist and are shared by more than one household. Most HMOs have been subdivided from lar ...

by requiring some HMOs to be licensed by

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

. Finally, it provides the legal framework for tenancy deposit schemes, which are intended to ensure good practice regarding deposits in assured shorthold tenancies and make dispute resolution relating to them easier. The Act introduced the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government,
Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS): guidance for landlords and property-related professionals
(26 May 2006). This made the owners or landlords of buildings responsible for assessing risks to health and safety, and removing these. In the assessment of Stuart Hodkinson, 'While appearing stronger on paper, the new laws have in practice served to reduce hugely the enforcement powers available to regulatory bodies. The HHSRS effectively abolished the previous minimum legal fitness standard for rented housing in England, replacing a black-and-white "pass/fail" approach with a more flexible set of standards not always backed by statutory obligation and open to greater interpretation by landlords and local authority enforcement teams, based on the assessment of risks'.

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The Housing Act 2004
as amended from the

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.
The Housing Act 2004
as originally enacted from the

.
Explanatory notes
to the Housing Act 2004.
records of Parliamentary debate relating to the Act
from

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

, at theyworkforyou.com United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2004 Housing legislation in the United Kingdom {{UK-statute-stub

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