A landlord’s obligations under section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 your landlord must “keep in repair” the structure and exterior of the property, known as the “dwelling house” (ie a building or part of a building that is let to the tenant wholly or mainly as a private residence). Your landlord must also keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling house for the supply of water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating, and heating water.
Keep in repair
This is a continuing obligation to keep up the standard of repair throughout the tenancy. It also requires the landlord to put the premises into good repair if it was not so at the start of the tenancy.
Whether a disputed item of required work is repair, renewal, maintenance or an improvement will ultimately be decided by the courts based on the facts of the individual case. However, it is usually the case that the landlord and tenant (or their lawyers) will come to an agreement on a disputed item of work before it is necessary to issue court proceedings.
Dwelling house
A dwelling house is a building or part of a building that is let to the tenant wholly or mainly as a private residence.
Keep in proper working order
This refers to the installations in the property, such as boilers, radiators, and electrical wiring. The wording implies that the installations were in proper working order at the start of the tenancy.
If due to disrepair or design fault the item has never been in working order, a landlord with knowledge of the defect continues to be in breach of his section 11 obligation.
For tenancies granted before 15 January 1989, the installations must be in the tenant’s dwelling. This causes particular problems for tenants with central heating systems outside the actual dwelling, such as those on estates and living in tower blocks. As the heating system is outside the dwelling, this will not be covered by section 11. Section 11 was extended by the Housing Act 1988 so that for tenancies granted on or after 15 January 1989, the obligation is extended to any installation which either directly or indirectly serves the dwelling and is either owned or controlled by the landlord.
Structure and exterior of the dwelling
Repairs that are structural relate to those parts of the dwelling that give it its essential appearance, stability and shape, being distinct from decorations and fittings. Internal and external plaster work is to be treated as part of the structure, as are the staircase and banisters. The exterior is the outside or external part of the dwelling and section 11 covers all outside parts of the building, including drains, gutters, and external pipes.
The existence of rising damp in a dwelling has been held to be the result of a breach of the landlord’s section 11 duty to repair the structure and exterior of the property.
Standards for section 11 repairs
The landlord’s repairing obligations implied by section 11 are subject to the qualification that in determining the standard of repair, regard must be had to the age, character, and prospective life of the dwelling house and the locality in which it is situated.
In practice this often means that the standards of repair required by section 11 are limited by this provision. The limitations do not allow the landlord to avoid liability for repair but means that the property does not have to be put into a perfect state. However, it should be repaired to a standard that would make it fit for occupation.
Notice requirements and time limits for section 11 repairs
A landlord only becomes liable to carry out any repair once they have been put on notice of the need for repair and have failed to carry out the repair within a reasonable time thereafter. This is an implied term of all tenancy agreements imposing a section 11 repairing obligation on landlords. This obligation applies only where the need for repair arises in relation to parts of the premises demised to the tenant; not over parts over which the landlord retains control.
However, it is the landlord’s knowledge of the defect that is important and it is not always necessary for the tenant to have brought the defect to the landlord’s notice. If the landlord becomes aware of the defect without the tenant brining it to his/her attention (through, for example, a landlord visit to the premises) the landlord becomes liable.
There is no definition of ‘reasonable time’ in section 11. In deciding what may be a reasonable time, the courts consider a number of factors, such as the extent of the disrepair, whether or not the tenant is living in the property, and the availability of replacement parts. For public sector landlords, there may be some indication of timescales through information showing targets for repairs.
Common parts and notice
The common parts of a dwelling are considered to remain in possession of the landlord (ie within the landlord’s control). As such, the general rule is that a tenant is not required to give the landlord notice of any disrepair in the common parts before the landlord’s obligation to repair arises.
However, in the case of a tenancy of an individual flat within a block, where the landlord is not the owner of the block, the requirement to give notice to the landlord will apply.
What is the new law?
On 20 March 2019 a new law came into force which supplements section 11 to make sure that rented houses and flats are ‘fit for human habitation’, which means that they are safe, healthy and free from things that could cause serious harm.
This new law, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, will help tenants and make sure irresponsible landlords improve their properties.
If rented properties are not ‘fit for human habitation’, tenants can take their landlords to court. The court can make the landlord carry out
repairs or put right health and safety problems. The court can also make the landlord pay compensation to the tenant.