Section 11 repairing obligations

The repairing duty that sits inside almost every tenancy in England and Wales whether the agreement mentions it or not — and which no tenancy clause can quietly hand back to the tenant.

What exactly does section 11 make the landlord responsible for?

Three things. Keeping in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling, including drains, gutters and external pipes. Keeping in repair and proper working order the installations for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation, including basins, sinks, baths and lavatories. And keeping in repair and proper working order the installations for space heating and heating water.

Does section 11 apply to my tenancy?

It is implied into leases of a dwelling granted for a term of less than seven years, which covers the overwhelming majority of private and social tenancies in England and Wales. It cannot be contracted out of without a court order, so a clause in your agreement putting the boiler on you does not displace it.

Do I have to tell the landlord about the problem first?

For disrepair inside the property, yes in practice. The repairing obligation generally arises once the landlord has notice of the defect, so the report is what starts the clock. Report in writing, keep the copy, and follow up in writing after any phone call.

How long does a landlord have to do the repair?

A reasonable time, which is not defined in the Act. What is reasonable depends on the severity: no heating in winter or a dangerous electrical fault is measured in days, a dripping gutter in weeks. Awaab's Law sets specific timescales for hazards in the social rented sector, and those timescales are increasingly the reference point everywhere.

What is the difference between section 11 and fitness for human habitation?

Section 11 is about disrepair: something has to be broken or deteriorated before the duty bites. The fitness for human habitation duty is about whether the property is fit to live in, so it can cover problems like condensation damp or inadequate ventilation where nothing is technically broken. Many claims plead both.

Can I withhold rent until it is fixed?

Withholding rent is risky and is not a remedy the Act gives you. Rent arrears are a ground for possession, so withholding can hand a landlord the case they need. The recognised routes are a disrepair claim for damages and an order for the works, a complaint to the council's environmental health team, or the Private Rented Sector Ombudsman.

A duty the agreement cannot remove

Section 11 was Parliament’s answer to a simple imbalance. A tenant signing a short lease has no realistic bargaining power over repairing clauses, and a landlord drafting the agreement has every incentive to push responsibility downwards. So the Act implies the obligation into the lease automatically, and provides that it cannot be excluded or limited except with the authorisation of a court. A tenancy agreement that makes the tenant responsible for the boiler, the roof or the drains does not change who is liable.

The duty covers structure and exterior — walls, roof, windows, external doors, drains, gutters and external pipes — and the installations that make a home habitable. Installations must be kept not just in repair but in proper working order, which is a slightly higher standard: a boiler that has never worked properly since installation can breach section 11 even though nothing has deteriorated.

It applies to leases of a dwelling granted for a term of less than seven years, which takes in nearly every

and almost all social tenancies. Long leaseholders sit outside it, which is why leasehold repair disputes take a different route entirely.

What section 11 does not cover

There is a fifth gap that causes more disputes than the other four combined: section 11 requires

. Something must be broken or deteriorated. Condensation damp caused by poor ventilation in a property that was built that way is not, on its own, disrepair — nothing has fallen into a worse condition. That gap is exactly what the

exist to close, which is why serious

cases are usually pleaded on more than one basis.

Access, notice and the reasonable period

The obligation is matched by a right of entry. Where the section 11 covenant is implied, so is a covenant by the tenant that the landlord or someone authorised in writing may enter at reasonable times of day, on 24 hours’ written notice to the occupier, to view the condition and state of repair. Refusing reasonable access is one of the few ways a tenant genuinely weakens a disrepair claim, because the landlord can say they were prevented from doing the work.

How long the landlord has is judged by what is reasonable in the circumstances. There is no statutory period. In practice, urgency drives it: a total loss of heating in December, a leak into an electrical fitting or an unsafe staircase is a matter of days; a cracked window frame is a matter of weeks. Since

introduced fixed timescales for investigating and remedying hazards in the social rented sector, those timescales have become a natural benchmark for what reasonable looks like more widely.

Reporting in writing is the practical heart of any disrepair case. Emails and message threads carry dates. Phone calls do not. A tenant with a chronological written record of reports, responses and missed appointments has a claim; a tenant who reported everything verbally has an argument.

Remedies when the landlord does nothing

A breach of section 11 is a breach of contract, so the county court can award damages and order specific performance — that is, order the works to be carried out. Damages in disrepair claims are usually assessed as the reduction in value of the tenancy over the period of disrepair, often expressed as a percentage of the rent, plus special damages for damaged possessions, extra heating costs or the cost of temporary alternative accommodation.

Court is not the only route, and rarely the first. A complaint to the local authority’s environmental health team can produce an HHSRS inspection and an improvement notice at no cost to the tenant, and a landlord who serves a possession notice shortly after such a complaint runs into the

protections. Since 1 May 2026, landlords in England must also be members of the

, which can investigate complaints and direct redress without a court claim.

Whichever route you take, the evidence is the same: dated photographs, the written report trail, receipts for anything you had to replace, and where the sums justify it, an independent surveyor’s report on the cause and extent of the defect.

A tenant reports a failed boiler by email on 3 November. The landlord promises an engineer twice and sends nobody. The boiler is replaced on 19 December — six and a half weeks with no heating or hot water in a two-bedroom flat let at £900 a month.

Period without heating and hot water

Written notice given

breach of s.11 — installations for space and water heating

The claim is for damages reflecting the reduced value of the tenancy across that period, plus special damages for the electric heaters bought and the extra electricity used, supported by receipts. The email of 3 November is the most important document in the file, because it fixes the date the landlord had notice and the point from which a reasonable period started to run.

Fitness for Human Habitation

Retaliatory eviction

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 9A — fitness for human habitation

Private renting: repairs

Section 11 Repairing Obligations — Renters' Rights Glossary

What section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 makes a landlord repair, what it excludes, why notice matters, and the remedies when repairs are not done.