Landlord repair responsibilities: what Section 11 actually covers

Landlord repair responsibilities: what Section 11 actually covers

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property, and to keep in repair and proper working order the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and heating water. It applies to most tenancies granted for a term of less than seven years.

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Landlords should seek independent legal advice for their specific circumstances. It describes the position in England.

What section 11 covers

Section 11(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies three distinct repairing covenants into the tenancy. An implied covenant, meaning a term treated as part of the contract whether or not it is written into the agreement, cannot be removed by a tenancy clause. The three limbs are set out in the Act as follows.

Two points are often missed. The Act expressly includes basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences within the sanitation limb, and it expressly excludes other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity. Courts have also treated internal plasterwork as part of the structure rather than as decoration, in Grand v Gill [2011] EWCA Civ 554, which matters in damp cases. Case law outcomes turn on their facts, so a single authority is rarely decisive on its own.

Where the property is part of a larger building, section 11(1A) extends the covenant to any part of the building in which the landlord has an estate or interest, and to installations serving the flat that the landlord owns or controls. Section 11(1B) limits that extension to disrepair affecting the tenant's enjoyment of the flat or of common parts the tenant is entitled to use.

What section 11 does not cover

Section 11(2) sets out three carve-outs, and they are narrower than most landlords assume. The covenant does not require the landlord to carry out works needed because the tenant failed to use the premises in a tenant-like manner, to rebuild or reinstate after destruction or damage by fire, tempest, flood or other inevitable accident, or to keep in repair anything the tenant is entitled to remove.

Beyond those statutory exceptions, the following generally fall outside section 11 unless the tenancy agreement says otherwise:

• Appliances. Cookers, ovens, fridges, washing machines and dishwashers are appliances for making use of a supply, not installations for the supply itself.
• Furniture, furnishings and decoration. Carpets, curtains, blinds and cosmetic redecoration are not structure.
• Improvements. The duty is to repair, not to upgrade. A landlord is generally entitled to repair rather than replace, and to replace like for like, unless a separate legal standard requires better.
• Garden structures and boundaries. Items not forming part of the building or attached to it may fall outside, as the Supreme Court found in relation to an access path in Edwards v Kumarasamy [2016] UKSC 40.

Anything a landlord promises in the tenancy agreement beyond section 11 is enforceable as an express term. Adding "the landlord will maintain white goods" creates a contractual obligation that section 11 would not otherwise impose.

Which tenancies section 11 applies to

Section 13(1) applies section 11 to a lease of a dwelling-house granted on or after 24 October 1961 for a term of less than seven years. In practice that captures almost every private residential tenancy in England, including assured tenancies, and it applies equally to private and social landlords.

The main exclusions sit in sections 13 and 14: fixed terms of seven years or more, agricultural holdings and farm business tenancies, certain Crown and government department lettings, and lettings to bodies such as local authorities and registered providers. Licences and genuine lodger arrangements are not leases and so fall outside section 11 entirely, although describing an agreement as a licence does not make it one.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserted a new section 13(1ZC), in force from 27 December 2025, which disapplies section 11 to a dwelling in England that was an assured tenancy immediately before the commencement date and was granted for a term of seven years or more by a landlord other than a private registered provider of social housing. This is a narrow transitional carve-out rather than a change to the general rule.

Section 12 makes any covenant or agreement void so far as it purports to exclude or limit the landlord's obligations under section 11, or to penalise the tenant for enforcing them, unless a county court has authorised the exclusion with the consent of both parties. A "the tenant is responsible for all repairs" clause has no effect on the section 11 limbs.

When the repairing duty is triggered

For disrepair inside the let property, the landlord is generally not liable until put on notice that a repair is needed. That principle comes from case law rather than the Act itself, and it has been applied consistently since O'Brien v Robinson[1973] AC 912.

Notice does not have to be formal. It can be given verbally, by text or by email, and what matters is whether the information would put a reasonable person on enquiry. Courts have also found landlords fixed with knowledge without a tenant report, for example where the landlord saw the condition during a visit, or where contractors engaged by the landlord knew of the problem. Whether a landlord had notice is a question of fact in each case.

The position differs for common parts within the landlord's ownership or control, where the duty has been held to arise without notice from the tenant. Section 11(6) gives the landlord a corresponding right of entry to view the condition and state of repair, at reasonable times of day and on giving 24 hours' notice in writing to the occupier.

What counts as a reasonable time

Repairs must be carried out within a reasonable time of the landlord being notified, and there is no statutory definition of what reasonable means. It is assessed on the facts, and relevant factors have included the extent of the disrepair, the availability of parts and contractors, whether anyone is living in the property, and any temporary measures the landlord has put in place.

Landlords are advised to treat the absence of a fixed statutory timescale as a reason to document response times rather than as latitude. Where a tenant later brings a disrepair claim, the contemporaneous record of when the report was received and what happened next is usually the decisive evidence. Fixed timescales do exist for social landlords under Awaab's Law, and the government has said it intends to extend that regime to the private rented sector, which is covered further below.

The standard of repair required

Section 11(3) sets the standard by reference to the age, character and prospective life of the dwelling-house and the locality in which it is situated. A Victorian terrace and a new build are not held to the same specification.

The property does not have to be put into perfect condition. The long-standing position, from Proudfoot v Hart (1890) 25 QBD 42, is that the standard is what makes the property reasonably fit for occupation by a tenant of the class likely to take it. Where more than one method would discharge the obligation, a landlord is generally entitled to choose the less expensive one, and to replace on a like for like basis unless a separate legal standard has moved on.

Where fitness for human habitation goes further

Section 9A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, inserted by the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, implies a separate covenant that the dwelling is fit for human habitation at the start of the tenancy and will remain so throughout. It has applied to new tenancies since 20 March 2019 and to periodic tenancies from 20 March 2020.

The distinction matters. Section 11 is a repair duty and is engaged by disrepair. Section 9A is a condition duty and can be engaged without any disrepair at all, because fitness is assessed under section 10 by reference to matters including damp, ventilation, lighting, water supply, drainage, food preparation facilities and any hazard prescribed under section 2 of the Housing Act 2004. Mould caused by inadequate ventilation in a structurally sound property is the classic example of something that may fall outside section 11 and inside section 9A.

Both duties are enforced by the tenant in the county court, which can order damages, specific performance, or both. Section 17 of the Act expressly preserves the court's power to order specific performance of a repairing covenant.

What happens when repairs are not carried out

Two separate routes run in parallel. The tenant can sue on the implied covenant, and the local authority can enforce under the Housing Act 2004 following an assessment under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The HHSRS assessment methodology was updated on 23 June 2026, which changed how hazards are scored rather than what landlords are required to do.

The section 249A maximum rose from £30,000 to £40,000 with effect from 1 May 2026. MHCLG's statutory guidance on civil penalties sets a starting point of £25,000 for failure to comply with an improvement notice, adjusted by the authority for culpability, harm and the landlord's record. The authority must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, must give a notice of intent within six months of having sufficient evidence, and must allow 28 days for representations. A landlord has 28 days from the final notice to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).

A disrepair record also has consequences well beyond the repair itself. Since Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026, possession runs entirely through Section 8, and a documented history of unaddressed reports gives a tenant material to work with when defending a possession claim. Councils gained expanded investigatory powers on 27 December 2025, and a request for records is now a realistic prospect rather than a remote one.

What is coming

Two changes are on the horizon and neither is in force for private landlords yet.

Awaab's Law has applied to social landlords since 27 October 2025 under the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, imposing fixed investigation and remedy timescales for emergency hazards and significant damp and mould. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 contains powers to extend it to the private rented sector, but the government has said it will consult first and no commencement date has been confirmed. Landlords are advised to treat the social sector timescales as an indication of direction rather than as a current legal requirement.

The Decent Homes Standard was confirmed in the government's policy statement of 28 January 2026 as applying to the private rented sector from 2035. Detailed guidance is still to be published.

The record that decides the dispute

In almost every disrepair dispute the contested question is not whether the landlord was responsible. It is when the tenant reported the problem, what the landlord did, and how quickly. A landlord who cannot show that sequence is arguing from memory against a tenant with a phone full of dated messages.

That is a documentation problem rather than a legal one, and it is separate from certificate tracking. Gas, electrical and alarm compliance runs on fixed renewal cycles. Repair liability runs on individual events, each with its own report date, response, contractor attendance and completion. A contemporaneous log of every issue raised, dated and kept property by property, is the record that answers the question a court or a council officer will actually ask. The updated HHSRS methodology has made prompt, evidenced response more important, not less.