What repairs are landlords legally required to do in the UK?

Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you must keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair — roof, external walls, windows, doors, drains and gutters — and maintain the installations for heating, hot water, gas, electricity, water and sanitation. This applies to most residential tenancies in England granted for less than seven years, which covers virtually all assured shorthold tenancies. You can't contract out of it under Section 12 of the same Act. This covers England; Wales and Scotland have their own rules.

What are tenants responsible for repairing in a UK rental property?

Tenants handle minor day-to-day upkeep — replacing light bulbs, unblocking drains they've blocked themselves, fixing damage they or their guests caused. The dividing line is fair wear and tear: gradual deterioration from normal use is your cost, damage beyond that is theirs. Disputes almost always land in that grey zone, which is why photos at check-in and check-out matter so much.

How long does a landlord legally have to fix a repair in the UK?

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets no fixed number of days — it says repairs must be done within a reasonable time from when you're told about the problem, judged by how urgent the defect is. In practice, the sector treats genuine emergencies (no heat in winter, flooding, unsafe electrics) as roughly 24 hours, urgent non-emergency issues as a few days, and routine repairs as up to around 28 days. These are widely used benchmarks, not legal deadlines.

What happens if a landlord doesn't fix a repair in time?

A tenant can report you to the local authority, which can serve an improvement notice or prohibition order and in serious cases carry out the work itself and recover the cost from you. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 a tenant can also sue you directly without going through the council, and the court can order the work done and award damages for discomfort, inconvenience and ill health. The cost of ignoring a repair is almost always higher than fixing it.

How do I build a repair paper trail as a UK landlord?

Your record needs to show when the tenant reported the issue, when you acknowledged it, which contractor you assigned, when they accepted, and when the job was completed. WhatsApp threads are poor evidence — messages can be deleted or edited. FixRoute creates this record automatically: every action from tenant report to job completion is timestamped and stored, so the audit trail builds itself as you manage repairs.

Law 12 min read 2025-04-01

Landlord Repair Obligations in the UK: A Complete Guide

Repair obligations are one of the most common sources of landlord-tenant disputes in the UK. Get them right and they're invisible; get them wrong and they turn expensive fast. This guide covers what you're legally required to fix, how quickly, and what documentation protects you when disputes arise. It covers the law in England — Wales and Scotland have their own rules.

By Theo Chavannes, Founder, FixRoute · Published 2025-04-01 · Last reviewed 2026-06-02

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. The courts treat that as including the roof, external walls, windows and doors, and the section expressly names drains, gutters and external pipes. You must also keep in repair the installations for space heating and hot water, and for water, gas, electricity and sanitation. It applies to most residential leases granted for a fixed term of less than seven years, which covers the vast majority of assured shorthold tenancies and periodic tenancies.

You can't contract out of this. Section 12 makes void any clause that tries to shift the obligation onto the tenant. It doesn't matter what the tenancy agreement says: if the duty exists under Section 11, it stays with you. See our breakdown in Section 11 Explained for 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?

Section 11 sets no fixed deadline. It requires repairs within a 'reasonable time', judged case by case on how urgent the defect is, and the clock starts once you've been told about the problem. As a practical, non-binding rule of thumb the sector treats genuine emergencies (no heat in winter, flooding, unsafe electrics) as roughly 24 hours, urgent but non-emergency issues (a leaking roof, a broken boiler in summer) as a few days, and routine repairs as up to about a month. Those are guidelines, not legal limits. GOV.UK guidance frames it the same urgency-based way.

The key is responding promptly. Even acknowledging receipt and setting an expectation ('we've got your report, a contractor is being booked') beats silence. For a fuller breakdown, see our guide on landlord repair response times in the UK.

What if you don't respond in time?

A tenant can report you to the local authority, which assesses hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and must act on the most serious — Category 1 — hazards under the Housing Act 2004, s.5. It can serve an improvement notice or prohibition order, and in urgent cases do the work itself and recover the cost from you.

A tenant can also sue you directly. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires a home in England to be fit to live in throughout the tenancy and lets the tenant take you to court without going through the council; the court can order the work done and award damages for discomfort, inconvenience and ill health.

One myth is worth correcting. A Rent Repayment Order is not a remedy for disrepair on its own. Under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, s.40 an RRO only follows specific offences — illegal eviction, running an unlicensed HMO, or ignoring a council improvement notice, for example. And since Section 21 'no-fault' eviction was abolished on 1 May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, retaliatory eviction is largely designed out: existing tenancies are now periodic assured tenancies, and you need a Section 8 ground to seek possession. 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 can be hard to rely on: it's editable, can disappear when phones are replaced, and is difficult to reconstruct cleanly.

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.

This is general information, not legal advice — check the GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk sources listed at the end, or a qualified solicitor or surveyor, for your situation.

Frequently asked questions

What repairs are landlords legally required to do in the UK?: Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you must keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair — roof, external walls, windows, doors, drains and gutters — and maintain the installations for heating, hot water, gas, electricity, water and sanitation. This applies to most residential tenancies in England granted for less than seven years, which covers virtually all assured shorthold tenancies. You can't contract out of it under Section 12 of the same Act. This covers England; Wales and Scotland have their own rules.
What are tenants responsible for repairing in a UK rental property?: Tenants handle minor day-to-day upkeep — replacing light bulbs, unblocking drains they've blocked themselves, fixing damage they or their guests caused. The dividing line is fair wear and tear: gradual deterioration from normal use is your cost, damage beyond that is theirs. Disputes almost always land in that grey zone, which is why photos at check-in and check-out matter so much.
How long does a landlord legally have to fix a repair in the UK?: Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets no fixed number of days — it says repairs must be done within a reasonable time from when you're told about the problem, judged by how urgent the defect is. In practice, the sector treats genuine emergencies (no heat in winter, flooding, unsafe electrics) as roughly 24 hours, urgent non-emergency issues as a few days, and routine repairs as up to around 28 days. These are widely used benchmarks, not legal deadlines.
What happens if a landlord doesn't fix a repair in time?: A tenant can report you to the local authority, which can serve an improvement notice or prohibition order and in serious cases carry out the work itself and recover the cost from you. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 a tenant can also sue you directly without going through the council, and the court can order the work done and award damages for discomfort, inconvenience and ill health. The cost of ignoring a repair is almost always higher than fixing it.
How do I build a repair paper trail as a UK landlord?: Your record needs to show when the tenant reported the issue, when you acknowledged it, which contractor you assigned, when they accepted, and when the job was completed. WhatsApp threads are poor evidence — messages can be deleted or edited. FixRoute creates this record automatically: every action from tenant report to job completion is timestamped and stored, so the audit trail builds itself as you manage repairs.

Free landlord tools

Section 11 Deadline Calculator — enter the report date and repair type to get the benchmark response window
Repair Priority Checker — find out whether a repair is emergency, urgent, routine, or planned under UK landlord law
Repair Cost Estimator — UK cost ranges for 16 common landlord repairs, sourced from Checkatrade and NICEIC 2024 data
Certificate Renewal Calculator — work out the renewal date for your Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, Legionella or PAT certificate