Housing bodies call for stronger legal route to access tenants’ homes

The proposal also includes safeguards to ensure that any powers are exercised “proportionately and solely for clearly defined safety purposes”. 

The Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, led to much more stringent regulation around safety.

Landlords are legally obliged to inspect tenants’ homes and provide yearly data to the Regulator of Social Housing for publication. 

Awaab’s Law, which resulted from the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged exposure to mould, means landlords must by law carry out emergency repairs promptly. 

However, housing associations and councils have reported problems accessing some homes.

In 2025, a report found that 60% of landlords were concerned about access in relation to Awaab’s Law. 

In many circumstances this can be helped through better engagement and scheduling.

The report highlighted the importance of more empathetic relationships with hard-to-access tenants, recognising why tenants might deny entry and building better channels of communication with residents. 

However, the sector has warned that in a small number of cases, repeated failures to gain access can leave tenants and neighbouring residents “exposed to serious health and safety risks, while also placing landlords at risk of regulatory non-compliance and, in some circumstances, criminal liability”.

When all “reasonable” attempts to gain access have failed, landlords currently rely on tenancy provisions and can seek access injunctions through the county courts. 

However, the housing bodies said recent court decisions have created “significant uncertainty” about whether courts can authorise forced access where tenants fail to comply with access orders.

Last year, a county court ruled that a landlord cannot force entry into a tenant’s home to carry out safety inspections without explicit statutory authority.

The Association of Safety and Compliance Professionals is also campaigning for urgent legal reform in this area. 

A white paper it published earlier this year, titled Safety can’t wait outside, found that more than 200,000 social homes may have at-risk or immediately dangerous gas installations.

The CIH said it believes the Social Housing Bill “presents an important opportunity to remove existing legal uncertainty, strengthen tenant protections and support effective regulation”.

Rob Gershon, tenant campaigner and activist, said the research on no access made clear the challenges are often more down to “general landlord failings”. 

“Whether a breakdown in communication, wider problems with tenant ‘engagement’ or an eagerness to pursue more drastic measures too early,” he said. 

But Mr Gershon, who sat on Shelter’s commission for the future of social housing post-Grenfell, added that the new announcement from the CIH is “probably fair”.

He said: “It notes that some of that stuff has not been addressed but goes out of its way to focus on that minority of issues that really are no access. 

“The kind of safety issues that really do need addressing are risks not just for the households involved, but for neighbours and communities too.”

He said he hopes the new powers would be coupled with the “possibility of helpful intervention”. 

“All those proposing them will be aware of the potential to stigmatise tenants here, but even in these small number of cases framed as exceptional, there are probably things that can be done to improve things for households involved.”

Mr Gershon also said it might be prudent to have a public review process to “ensure the powers aren’t – deliberately or otherwise – being misused”.