Section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 gives tenants and visitors a right to claim when landlords fail in their duty of care over areas they control. Here is how it works.
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Most tenants know about Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. That is the law that requires landlords to keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair. But Section 11 only applies to your own home, and it only bites once you have told the landlord about the problem.
The Defective Premises Act 1972 covers a different set of situations. It applies to communal areas, structural defects the landlord controls, and damage caused to you by something the landlord already knew about or should have known about. Critically, you do not have to have reported the defect to trigger it.
What Section 4 of the Defective Premises Act actually says
Section 4 places a duty of care on any person who owes "a duty to maintain or repair" a property. In plain English: if your landlord or freeholder is responsible for maintaining something, they owe a duty of care not only to you, but to everyone who might be affected by that property, including visitors, neighbours, and anyone else who might reasonably be present.
The duty applies where the landlord:
- knew about the defect, or
- ought to have known about it with reasonable care and inspection.
This is different from Section 11. Under Section 11, the landlord must repair, but only after you have told them there is a problem. Under Section 4 of the Defective Premises Act, a landlord with the power to inspect and maintain a property is expected to find problems, not just wait to be told.
Who it covers
Section 4 applies to social landlords (councils and housing associations), private freeholders, and private landlords. If a person or organisation has the legal right to enter and repair a part of the property, they are caught by the Act. This includes:
- housing associations responsible for communal stairwells and external walls
- freeholders of blocks of flats who control the roof and shared structure
- private landlords who rent an upstairs flat and control the building's water supply or drainage
Common situations where this comes up
Roof leaking into the flat below
If a freeholder or landlord controls the roof and rain is getting in through a defect they should have caught on inspection, Section 4 applies. The tenant below does not have to prove they reported the roof leak; they need to show the landlord had responsibility for the roof and that reasonable inspection would have found the problem.
Broken or poorly lit communal stairs causing a fall
A communal stairwell that is the landlord's responsibility to maintain falls squarely under Section 4. If a loose step, broken handrail, or poor lighting causes a visitor or tenant to fall, the landlord may be liable for personal injury as well as any damage to belongings.
A previous repair that was done badly and is now failing
If a landlord sent a contractor to fix a pipe six months ago and the repair was inadequate, the landlord had knowledge of the original defect. If water is now coming through again and damaging the flat below, Section 4 supports a claim even if the tenant never reported the second leak.
Structural damage from a defect the landlord knew about
If a tenant in an upstairs flat reports structural movement and the landlord does nothing, and later that defect causes damage to the flat below, the downstairs tenant has a Section 4 claim against the landlord, even though they personally never reported anything.
What you can claim
Under the Defective Premises Act 1972, you can claim for:
- Damage to belongings caused by the defect, furniture, electronics, clothing, flooring
- Personal injury suffered as a result of the landlord's failure
- Loss of use of rooms where a part of your home has become unusable
- Distress and inconvenience in appropriate cases
Time limits
The time limits are strict. For property damage claims, you have 6 years from the date the damage occurred. For personal injury claims, the limit is 3 years from the date of injury, or the date you became aware the landlord's failure caused it, whichever is later.
Do not sit on this. Evidence becomes harder to gather as time passes, and landlords sometimes carry out repairs that obscure the original defect.
Running a Section 4 claim alongside a Section 11 claim
You can bring both at the same time, and in many cases you should. Section 11 covers the landlord's duty to repair your home once notified. Section 4 covers their duty of care over the wider property and the harm that defect causes. They address different things and have different evidential requirements, but there is no rule preventing both from running together in the same claim.
If you have suffered damage or injury from a defect in a part of the property your landlord controls, call us free on 0800 030 4669 for an honest assessment of whether you have a Section 4 claim, a Section 11 claim, or both.
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: Defective Premises Act 1972, Section 4 (legislation.gov.uk); Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk).
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 29 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only and not guaranteed; every case is different.
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