What repairs are the tenant's responsibility?

Not every job in a rented home is the landlord's. Some small, day-to-day jobs fall to the tenant, under the law and under your tenancy agreement. Knowing which jobs are yours helps you avoid deposit arguments when you move out.

What the law says

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets out what landlords must repair. But tenants have jobs too. In general, you are responsible for:

• Small jobs that come from normal use of the home
• Damage you caused yourself
• Not doing things that cause needless wear and damage

A landlord does not have to fix damage caused by the tenant's own actions, misuse of the home, or a failure to behave in a "tenant-like manner".

The "tenant-like manner" rule

"Tenant-like manner" comes from court cases. In simple terms it means:

• Doing the small day-to-day jobs any householder would normally do
• Not causing needless damage
• Not doing things that make the home harder to repair or look after

For example, this covers changing light bulbs, clearing small blockages (like a shower drain blocked with hair), and keeping the home reasonably clean and aired.

Small repairs that are usually the tenant's job

Light bulbs and batteries: changing bulbs, and the batteries in smoke or carbon monoxide alarms, is usually the tenant's job. Some councils and housing associations change alarm batteries anyway, but the law does not make them.

Small drain blockages: a sink or bath draining slowly from soap, hair or dirt, where the blockage is not in the landlord's pipes, is usually the tenant's to clear.

Tap washers: some tenancy agreements make basic tap jobs, like a new washer for a dripping tap, the tenant's. A tap with a bigger fault than a washer may be the landlord's to repair.

Garden jobs: if your agreement says you look after the garden, then mowing, weeding and keeping it tidy is yours. Big jobs, tree work, garden walls, fences, are usually the landlord's.

Small marks: scuffs, minor marks and fair wear and tear are not yours to repair when you leave. Large holes, heavy staining, or repainting needed because of your own damage may come out of the deposit.

What is NOT the tenant's job

Be clear about what the landlord must do, even though tenants sometimes wrongly take it on:

• Structural repairs: anything to the building itself, roof, walls, foundations, windows, is the landlord's
• Boiler and heating: the landlord maintains and repairs heating and hot water, not you
• Plumbing: a leak, a burst pipe or serious drainage trouble is the landlord's once reported
• Electrics: faulty wiring, failing sockets and other electrical safety problems are the landlord's
• Damp and mould from the building: where the cause is a building fault, not how you heat or air the home, the landlord must fix that cause

What if your tenancy agreement says otherwise?

Some agreements try to load more jobs onto the tenant, or shed the landlord's legal duties. Such terms often do not count. A term passing the landlord's Section 11 duty to the tenant, say making you repair the boiler, is not legally binding.

If your tenancy agreement has unusual repair rules, get advice before you agree to them.

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

Not sure whose job it is? Or is your landlord wrongly refusing a repair the law requires? Call us on 0800 030 4669.

No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk)

Related articles

• What is Section 11?
• What Section 11 does not cover