Landlord Law Essentials

Landlord Law Essentials Part 8 - The Property Condition

My topic in this chapter is often a vexed problem, and there are many complaints by tenants about it. I am talking about the property condition and tenants’ rights regarding this.

This is a complex subject, and there are a number of different pieces of legislation dealing with different aspects, many of which overlap.

Landlords’ statutory repairing obligations
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System
Fitness for Human Habitation
Health and safety regulations
Renters Rights Act changes
Further Reading

Landlords’ statutory repairing obligations

We look at this first as it came first in time. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a landlord must:

Keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling house (including drains gutters and external pipes)
Keep in repair and proper working order the installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity, and for sanitation (includes sinks etc., but not fixtures and appliances for making use of the supply of water gas and electricity) and
Keep in repair and proper working order the installations for space heating and heating water.

However, a landlord will not be responsible for

Damage caused by the tenant or resulting from the tenant’s failure to use the property properly
The tenants own property
Rebuilding in the case of fire flood or other inevitable accident
Doing work where the problem is due to the design of the property rather than disrepair (under this legislation)

Plus, the property’s age, character, prospective life, and location will be taken into account (for example, by a court if a tenant applies for an order that works be done) when determining the standard of repair.

It’s important to realise that landlords are responsible under their repairing covenants, WHETHER OR NOT THE TENANT HAS PAID RENT.

Note also that if your tenant withholds rent because you have failed to carry out essential repairs, and you issue proceedings for possession based on rent arrears, your tenant will have a defence.

You could end up being on the wrong end of a court order ordering you to do the repairs and being ordered to pay compensation to your tenants.

Depending on how much the arrears are, of course. The Judge won’t make this sort of order if the repairs are minor and the tenant owes £10,000 worth of rent.

Tenants also have the right, in certain circumstances, to get the repairs done themselves and deduct the (reasonable) cost from their rent.

All of which means that you should make sure that the property is in tip top condition at the start of the tenancy and carry out regular inspections and do repair work as and when necessary. Keeping careful records of all that you do.

Flats in larger buildings

If the tenanted property forms part of a larger building (for example, a block of flats) which the landlord owns or controls, then the landlord will also be responsible for the repair of the common parts and installations, insofar as they affect the tenants use and enjoyment of his tenancy and the common parts.

So if there is one boiler in the basement that services all the flats and the landlord owns the block, he will be responsible for servicing the boiler.

However, if the common parts of the building are owned by someone else, then the tenant cannot hold the landlord responsible for anything that might go wrong there, as the landlord will not have the right to do anything. Although the landlord will be expected to do what they can to get the repairs done by the property owner.

Can you get out of your statutory repairing obligations?

It is virtually impossible to avoid liability. They cannot be excluded by any contract term. So, for example, if you have a clause in your tenancy agreement making your tenant responsible for keeping the brickwork of the property in proper repair, that will be void.

You also need to be careful about giving tenants low rents on the basis that they will do repair work which comes under the statutory repairing obligations. You may find that the tenant (once in the property) turns around and refuses to do the work, but continues to pay the low rent. There isn’t much you can do about this.

Better to have a market rent and agree to pay the tenant separately for the repair work. Then, allow it to be offset against the rent.

The only legal way you can ‘get out’ of your repairing obligations is by making an application to the court, and I have never known of a case where this has happened.

When should you do the repair work?

Under these repairing obligations, you cannot be liable to the tenant for failure to carry out repair work if you have not been told about it (assuming the disrepair is inside the property – if it is outside, where you do not need permission to view it, you will be expected to know about it).

So, your tenants need to give you notice of the disrepair, preferably in writing. Although if they just tell you about it, you still ought to do something.

Tenants also cannot expect you to be liable for compensation for disrepair if they fail to allow you access to do the repair work! Something that happens sometimes.

If it happens to you, best to write to them telling them that if they won’t let you in to inspect/repair you cannot be held responsible for any problems that may occur, as it will be their fault for failing to allow you access to deal with it.

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to enforce housing standards in their area. They do this by conducting inspections under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). This is the system that Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) use to assess the condition and fitness of a property.

For example, they will normally do this if tenants contact the Local Authority to complain about the condition of their rented property.

With an HHSRS inspection, properties are assessed against 29 ‘hazards’. These include things such as damp and mould growth, excess cold, falls, and domestic hygiene, pests and refuse.

When doing their inspection, EHOs will give each hazard a rating. Their findings will then be put through a computer program, which will work out the overall results of the inspection.

If the result is that the property has ‘category 1 hazards’, then the Local Authority is under a duty to take action.
If the property has less serious ‘category 2 hazards’, then they have a discretion whether to take action or not.

The action normally involves contacting the landlord and requiring certain works to be done to bring the property up to standard. If this is not done, they will normally then serve an Improvement notice.

This is a serious matter. Failure to comply with the Improvement notice can result in a Civil Penalty fine of up to £30,000 and/or an application for a Rent Repayment Order by the tenants or (if any of the rent has been paid by some form of benefit) the Local Authority.

If you find yourself in this position, the best thing is to take legal advice (for example, via our telephone advice service).

Sometimes the works ordered by the Local Authority will be excessive or inappropriate. A solicitor experienced in this work can help you challenge the notice and negotiate with the Local Authority on your behalf.

Landlord Law members can find out more about this here.
We have a detailed members only article on the HHSRS here.

Fitness for Human Habitation

The big problem with the landlords’ repairing obligations (from the tenants’ point of view) is that they only affect things which are in actual disrepair. So landlords were not obliged to take action if something was of poor quality but did not actually need repair.

The main problem was with condensation, damp and mould issues, which often occur in properties which are technically ‘in repair’ but are subject to damp and mould, sometimes to an alarming degree.

This was until December 2018, when the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 was passed. It came into force (in England) in March 2019. Similar legislation now applies in Wales.

What does the act do?

It requires landlords to ensure that properties are ‘fit for human habitation’ both at the start of and throughout a tenancy.

This is done by adding new implied terms to the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, sections s 9A and 10.

‘Fit for human habitation’ is not a particularly high standard. The legislation states:

The house or dwelling shall be regarded as unfit for human habitation if, and only if, it is so far defective in one or more of those matters that it is not reasonably suitable for occupation in that condition.

Section 10 of the act has a list of the things to be taken into account, plus the act incorporates the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.

There are exclusions from liability which are very similar to those set out above for the repairing obligations.

Enforcement

Like the statutory repairing obligations, this legislation is enforced by tenants bringing a claim for compensation and/or an injunction ordering landlords to do remedial work.

The problem for many years though, has been that tenants are frightened to do this as their landlord can retaliate by bringing eviction proceedings under section 21. Anti-retaliatory eviction legislation has been attempted, but has not worked well.

However, after the Renters Rights Act has come into force on 1 May 2026, abolishing section 21, the government hopes that tenants will be more likely to enforce their rights. It is possible that they may be helped by solicitor firms offering no win no fee agreements (as is often done now for social housing tenants).

Landlord Law members will find a detailed article on this here.

Health and safety regulations

The law on this is scattered across many laws and regulations, but here is a summary of the most important.

The gas regulations

These require all landlords of property where there are any gas installations to have them checked annually by a gas installer registered with the Gas Safe Register, and to provide a certificate to the tenants (also annually) confirming that this has been done. And that any necessary work has been done.

The obligation to do this is on the landlord, and it is not something you can pass on to the tenant. So any tenancy agreement clauses attempting to do this will be void.

The landlord also has to pay the cost of any necessary repair and maintenance work – unless the work is needed because of damage done by the tenant.

What happens if you fail to comply? Well, the tenant can report you to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who may, if you ignore all requests, bring a prosecution against you.

The HSE have a very good web site with a lot of useful information on it, as does the Gas Safe Register. In addition, you can use the Gas Safe Register site to find or to check out a gas installer, to see if they are registered, plus they have a reminder service to get your appliances checked.

Gas safety is extremely important. People have died due to poorly maintained gas appliances.

Prior to 1 May 2026, the provision of gas safety certificates for section 21 claims has been important, but this will cease to be relevant after section 21 has been abolished.

Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR)

Up until June 2020 (and December 2022 in Wales), there was no obligation on landlords to have electricity checks carried out.

However, now landlords are obliged to have the electrical installations checked at least every 5 years by a qualified and competent person.

This person must supply a certificate, which must be provided to tenants and Local Authorities upon request. Applicants for properties must also be provided with the report.

You will find detailed guidance on the regulations in the government’s online guide here.

There are a number of other regulations that relate to electricity and electrical appliances (in addition to the statutory repairing obligations above). For example, regulations relating to plugs and sockets, gas cooking appliances and the safety of electrical appliances generally.

To protect yourself, therefore, it is often a good idea to get PAT (portable appliance testing) certificates between lets, for any appliances which are not new.

If this is done, then if complaints are made, your PAT certificate will evidence that all appliances were in proper working order at the time the property was let.

Note also that under building regulations, only properly qualified electricians can do electrical work. So, make sure you only use qualified people and keep careful records to show what has been done at the property and who did it.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Regulations

These came into force in England on 1 October 2015 and were amended on 1 October 2022. Similar rules now apply in Wales.

Landlords must provide a smoke alarm on every floor where there is living accommodation and a carbon monoxide alarm in every room where there are solid fuel and fixed appliances such as gas boilers or fires. And also when new appliances such as gas boilers or fires are installed in any home.

The alarms must be tested on the first day of the tenancy by the landlord or his agent, after which the maintenance is down to the tenants (or as provided in the tenancy agreement). Although landlords must replace faulty alarms once they have been notified.

As fire safety is important for your investment, many landlords will check the smoke alarms themselves when carrying out their regular property inspections.

Landlords also have obligations regarding fire safety generally. You will find extensive guidance (not all of which is relevant for landlords) linked from here.

Furniture

Then there are the furniture regulations. These state that all soft furnishings must be complaint, fire-retardant and carry the proper labels. This does not apply to furniture manufactured before 1950 or materials used just to cover them.

To protect yourself, you should keep records of all receipts for furniture bought. Anything purchased new since about 1993 should be compliant.

And finally

This is just a brief summary of some of the most important health and safety issues landlords need to be aware of. There are others, equally important which we have not discussed here, for example

Fire safety
EPCs and energy efficiency, and
The need to do checks for Legionella

All of these are covered in some detail on Landlord Law.

Renters Rights Act changes

The Renters Rights Act will bring in two main forms of protection for tenants as regards the condition of their property:

A new ‘decent homes standard

This will be based on the decent homes standard we have had for many years for social housing. Unlike the repairing obligations and fitness for human habitation legislation, landlords will be expected to comply at all times. So their liability will not be conditional upon notice from tenants.

Awaabs Law

Awaab Ishak was a toddler who died due to the excessive damp and mould in his (social) home. His law requires landlords to deal with and fix health and safety hazards within strict time limits after becoming aware of them.

Awaabs law has recently come into force for social landlords, and the government will no doubt be basing regulations for the Private Sector on the experience of social housing with this new rule.

Timing

The government’s published road map indicates that these parts of the Act are unlikely to come into force before the 2030’s. Landlords are expected to use this time to upgrade their properties (if necessary) to a proper condition.