Tenant Reported a Repair: What to Do in the First 14 Days

Tenant Reported a Repair: What to Do in the First 14 Days

There is no fixed statutory deadline for a private landlord in England to complete a repair. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires repairs within a reasonable time of notice, judged by the severity of the defect. A 14 day response window is best practice, not law.

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.

Day zero: when the clock actually starts

The repairing obligation under section 11 is triggered by notice. The House of Lords confirmed in O'Brien v Robinson [1973] AC 912 that a landlord's liability arises only once they have notice of the defect, not from the moment the defect exists.

Three consequences follow, and the second and third are where landlords lose.

Notice does not have to be formal. A text message, a passing comment during an inspection, or a message to a letting agent will do. There is no requirement that the tenant use the word "repair" or write a letter.

Notice to your agent is notice to you. A report made to a managing agent, or to anyone acting for the landlord, starts the clock. The MHCLG guidance on the equivalent social sector regime treats a report to any employee as establishing the landlord's awareness, and puts the burden on the landlord to have internal procedures for escalating it.

The clock does not pause while you decide whether it is your problem. Time spent working out whether the defect is the tenant's responsibility counts against you if it turns out not to be.

Record the date, the reporter, the words used, and anything said about health or vulnerability. That last item changes the urgency assessment more than anything else in the file.

Days zero to one: triage

Decide which of three categories the report falls into, because the timescale follows from the category rather than from a general policy.

Vulnerability moves items up. The government guidance for social landlords treats an identical damp report differently depending on whether a pregnant tenant, a child with asthma or a household with no reported health conditions is affected. The same reasoning applies to what a reasonable private landlord would do.

Gas has its own regime and shorter timescales. Where a Gas Safe engineer classifies an appliance as immediately dangerous, that is not a repair to schedule.

Days one to three: acknowledge in writing

Send a written acknowledgement confirming what has been reported, what you intend to do, and when. Email is sufficient and preferable, because it is dated.

This step costs almost nothing and does a disproportionate amount of work later. It fixes the date of notice in a form both parties hold, it demonstrates engagement, and it converts a verbal report into a documented one. A landlord facing a disrepair claim two years on with no written acknowledgement is arguing about when they were told; a landlord with one is arguing about whether the response was reasonable, which is a much better argument to be having.

Ask a specific question in the acknowledgement: whether anyone in the household has a health condition that the problem may affect. Tenants often do not volunteer this, and it changes what a reasonable response looks like.

Days one to ten: inspect

Inspect in person unless photographs genuinely resolve the question. Section 11(6) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 gives the landlord a right to enter to view the condition and state of repair, at reasonable times of the day and on 24 hours' written notice to the occupier.

Three practical points. Give the notice in writing even where the tenant has agreed verbally, since the notice is the evidence you attended lawfully. Offer a range of appointment slots, including outside working hours where you can, because a tenant who cannot make the only offered time is a tenant whose repair is delayed for a reason a court will attribute to you. And take dated photographs of what you find, including of things that turn out to be fine.

Where the cause is not apparent, instruct a survey rather than guessing. A wrong diagnosis followed by ineffective works is worse than a delay for a proper inspection, because the tenant then has a repair history showing the problem recurring.

Days three to fourteen: findings and scheduled works

Put the findings in writing to the tenant. Say what the problem is, what will be done, who will do it and when, and what to do in the meantime if the situation worsens.

Then separate the work into two tracks, because they have different timescales and conflating them is the most common substantive failure.

Making it safe deals with the immediate risk: isolating an electrical fault, a mould wash, a temporary repair to stop water ingress, providing a dehumidifier or temporary heating. This should happen quickly, within days.

Fixing the cause deals with the underlying defect: the failed flashing, the absent extractor fan, the bridged damp proof course. This may take longer and may need scaffolding, specialists or approvals. What matters is that it is scheduled, communicated, and started, rather than left because the visible symptom has gone.

Where the second track will take time, say so in writing with an expected date. A tenant told that scaffolding is booked for six weeks' time is in a different position from a tenant who hears nothing.

The access problem

Refused or frustrated access is the most common reason a reasonable landlord misses a reasonable timescale, and it is defensible only if it is documented.

Make multiple attempts, using more than one channel. Offer a range of times. Where an appointment is missed, leave a note or send a message the same day confirming the attempt and offering alternatives. Where a tenant is vulnerable or hard to reach, consider whether a support worker, family member or advocate can help arrange access.

The standard applied in the social sector is whether the landlord took all reasonable steps, and the evidence is the log of attempts. A landlord with three dated contact attempts and a card left at the property is in a strong position. A landlord who called once and gave up is not.

What is not the landlord's repair

Section 11 covers the structure and exterior, and the installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and water heating. It does not cover everything in the property, and knowing the boundary saves arguments.

Outside the obligation, in general terms: appliances the tenant owns and brought with them; damage caused by the tenant, their household or their visitors, beyond fair wear and tear; anything the tenant is entitled to remove at the end of the tenancy; and matters covered by the tenant's duty to use the premises in a tenant-like manner, which covers things like unblocking a sink, replacing a lightbulb and keeping the property reasonably ventilated.

Two cautions. Section 11(1) cannot be contracted out of, so a clause making the tenant responsible for the boiler is ineffective. And the fitness duty in section 9A is wider than section 11, so a defect that falls outside the repairing obligation can still make the property unfit and still be the landlord's to remedy. A landlord declining a report on section 11 grounds should check the fitness position before writing back.

Where the position is genuinely arguable, inspect anyway. Attending and then explaining in writing why the item is the tenant's costs a morning and closes the point. Declining without inspecting leaves the landlord asserting a conclusion they never tested.

Why this matters more than it used to

Two changes since 1 May 2026 make the repair log a possession document rather than a maintenance record.

The first is that possession now runs entirely through Section 8, so a landlord seeking possession for arrears must reach the Ground 8 threshold at both service and hearing. A disrepair counterclaim reduces the arrears figure, and where it takes the net arrears below three months, Ground 8 collapses and the landlord is left with the discretionary grounds where a disrepair finding weighs against them. Our article on tenant defences to Section 8 possession claims covers this.

The second is that local housing authorities now hold a duty to enforce and significantly wider investigatory powers, including the ability to require documents from landlords and agents. A repair history is exactly the kind of document that can be required. Our article on how councils find non-compliant landlords sets out those powers.

The fourteen day checklist

None of this is a statutory requirement. All of it is what a landlord who acted reasonably will be able to show they did.

Damp reports carry additional considerations, covered in our articles on the legal duty and response deadlines for damp and mould and on telling condensation from rising and penetrating damp.

A repair response is a sequence of small dated actions that nobody records until they need them, at which point the record does not exist. LLCR's Property Issue Log captures the report, the acknowledgement, the inspection and the works as a dated chain against the property, and the Issue Response Pack assembles that chain when it is needed.