As unveiled from a Freedom of Information Request from Graham Coffey & Co. Solicitors to Manchester City Council, almost one in four council homes in Manchester have failed to meet the government’s minimum housing standards at some point in the last five years.

l, The request revealed that 2,968 properties have been classified as non-decent between 2020 and early 2025. This means they did not meet the legal requirements under the Decent Homes Standard, covering issues such as repair condition, safety, thermal comfort, and basic amenities.

The council manages approximately 12,400 social housing properties, placing the five-year failure rate at nearly 24% of all homes. In total, 3,068 individual housing element failures were recorded over the same period, as some homes experienced more than one issue.

Nadeem Vali, Partner and Head of Housing Disrepair at Graham Coffey & Co. Solicitors, said: “This is no longer about isolated cases – it’s a pattern affecting thousands of households. When nearly a quarter of all council homes fall short of minimum standards, it raises serious questions about the condition and resilience of the city’s housing stock.”

Although Manchester City Council has not recorded formal complaints about housing providers as entities during this period, housing condition failures have been tracked consistently through tenancy management and repair records. These figures reflect direct reports from tenants to housing providers, and the resulting logged failures form the basis of the council’s non-decent housing data.

Nadeem added: “These are the people who did the right thing – applied for housing, followed the rules, paid their rent – and they’re living in substandard homes. Too many of them are being left in limbo while their homes deteriorate around them.”