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  12. Disrepairs for tenants

Disrepairs for tenants

If you are a tenant, your landlord/letting agent must, by law, ensure that the accommodation you occupy is fit for habitation, is properly managed and meets the required standards.

The landlord/letting agent will be responsible for the repair of:

  • The structure and exterior of the property
  • Built-in fixtures and fittings eg sanitary installations in the dwelling, kitchens, etc
  • Repairs to essential supplies eg water, electricity, gas (if you smell gas or suspect damage to the pipeline call 0800 111 999 in an emergency)  

As a general rule the landlord/letting agent is only liable to carry out repairs that they are aware of.  They should normally fix serious hazards such as a broken boiler or an electricity failure quickly but less serious hazards such as a dripping tap or broken kitchen unit doors can be repaired over a longer timescale.

If you need a repair:

  • Telephone or write to your landlord/letting agent so that they can arrange to carry out the work. It is a good idea to put your request in writing, either by letter or by email.  This is necessary if you later have to rely on the protection of the regulations about retaliatory eviction.
  • Take photos of the disrepair as evidence and send them to the landlord/letting agent along with your request.
  • Ask the landlord/letting agent to confirm within 14 days what their response is to your disrepair issue(s) and ask for a timescale for remedial repairs to be completed.
  • Do not stop paying your rent - the landlord may try to evict you for rent arrears.

Hopefully, the landlord/letting agent will respond to you confirming what they intend to do with the issues you have reported and arrange for repairs to be completed.  Make sure you are contactable in order for appointments to be made for works to be completed and ensure that you make the property available for contractors to attend appointments agreed by you.  We will not uphold disrepair complaints where tenants have not co-operated with reasonable attempts to complete remedial repairs.

After 14 days if the landlord/letting agent has not responded:

Send the following to housingstandards@sholland.gov.uk or post to Housing Standards Team, Council Offices, Priory Road, Spalding, PE11 2XE: 

  • Copies of your communication to the landlord/letting agent.
  • Full contact details for your landlord/letting agent (address/telephone/email) and the name of the person you have been dealing with.
  • The address of your rental property.
  • Full details and photos of the disrepairs.
  • Your contact details and a copy of your tenancy agreement to confirm the commencement date of your tenancy.  

If the landlord/letting agent does not respond and the standard of your housing does not meet minimum legal requirements, the Council will take further action to ensure these requirements are met.  Lack of co-operation can result in further action being taken under the Housing Act 2004; serving landlords/letting agents with Notices which can incur fees and ultimately Civil Penalty fines can be issued against them.

Tenant responsibilities

The tenant is responsible for the repair of:

  • Internal decorations
  • Items installed by themselves
  • Damage to the property by the tenant, a member of their family or their visitors

Some repairing responsibilities may be specified within your tenancy agreement, so make sure you check before you make a complaint. 

Damp and mould

As a tenant you are required to use the property in a responsible way. For example this would include making sure that you ventilate the property well and do not dry clothes on radiators which will lead to moisture and eventually damp and mould. The Housing Standards Team are often contacted by tenants claiming damp and mould as a disrepair issue; very often the damp and mould has been caused by tenant lifestyle.  Click here to see our leaflet  Condensation and mould advice for tenants (PDF) [545KB] (opens new window)  and click the link to our Damp and mould (opens new window) page.