Housing Act 2004 : Elizabeth II. Chapter 34 (Reprinted September 2006 and March 2007)

This Act, given Royal Assent on 18th November 2004, takes forward provisions contained in the original Green Paper (ISBN 1851123784, published 2000), and incorporates subsequent policy statements and responses to the draft Housing Bill (Cm. 5793, ISBN 0101579322, published 2003). Among a number of provisions are: the replacement of the existing housing fitness standard with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which will allow local authorities to tackle poor housing conditions; regulate and improve controls of houses in multiple occupation, by introducing two new licensing regimes for private rented property; all sellers and estate agents of houses will be required to produce a home information pack for potential buyers; also a reform of the right to buy scheme in order to curb abuses by property developers and tenants; there will be an extension of the power of Housing Corporations to give grants to non-registered social landlords.