What are landlords legally required to repair?
Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you must keep in repair and proper working order the structure and exterior of the property — roof, walls, windows, drains, and external pipes. You must also maintain installations for space heating, water heating, and sanitation. This applies to all assured shorthold tenancies.
Tenants cannot contract out of these obligations — any clause trying to shift them onto the tenant is void. It doesn't matter what the tenancy agreement says: if the obligation exists under Section 11, it stays with you. See our detailed breakdown in Section 11 Explained for a full breakdown of what's covered and what isn't.
What are tenants responsible for?
Tenants are generally responsible for minor repairs that arise from daily use — replacing light bulbs, unblocking drains they've blocked, fixing damage they or their guests caused. The dividing line is 'fair wear and tear' versus deliberate or negligent damage.
Disputes almost always arise in this grey zone. The key question is: would you expect this level of deterioration from a tenant who used the property normally for this length of time? If yes, it's fair wear and tear. If no, it's chargeable to the tenant — but you'll need evidence, which is why photos at check-in and check-out are essential.
How quickly do you need to respond?
The law says 'reasonable time', which varies by urgency. Emergency repairs (no heat in winter, flooding, unsafe electrics) should be addressed within 24 hours. Urgent but non-emergency issues (leaking roof, broken boiler in summer) within a few days. Non-urgent issues within 28 days is generally accepted as reasonable.
The key is responding promptly — even acknowledging receipt and setting an expectation ('we've received your report, contractor is being booked') is better than silence. For a detailed breakdown with specific timelines, see our guide on landlord repair response times in the UK.
What if you don't respond in time?
Tenants can report you to the local authority, who can issue a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) notice. In serious cases they can carry out repairs themselves and recover the cost from you. The Deregulation Act 2015 also protects tenants from retaliatory eviction if they've reported a repair — so issuing a Section 21 notice after a tenant complains about a repair carries risk.
Tenants can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order in cases of serious disrepair. Courts can award damages for discomfort, inconvenience, and health impacts. The cost of ignoring a repair is almost always higher than the cost of fixing it.
Building a repair paper trail
The most common reason landlords lose repair disputes isn't that they didn't fix things — it's that they can't prove they did. A WhatsApp thread is weak evidence: it's editable, disappears when phones are replaced, and has no legally meaningful timestamps.
A dedicated repair system creates an immutable record: when the report came in, when you responded, which contractor you assigned, when they accepted, when the job was completed. That record doesn't require any legal expertise — tools like FixRoute eliminate WhatsApp chaos and create a full repair audit trail. Read about why WhatsApp fails property management, or start building your repair trail today.