Repairs and Maintenance Rules

Understanding Your Rights for Repairs and Maintenance Rules

When you move into a student house or flat, you naturally expect a safe, warm, and secure environment. Unfortunately, property issues are a common reality for many renters across the country. According to Citizens Advice (2024), 45% of private renters in England are currently experiencing damp, mould, or excessive cold in their homes. You do not have to put up with substandard living conditions just because you are a student.

Your tenancy agreement outlines the exact responsibilities of both you and your landlord, but the law also provides strict minimum standards that cannot be written out of a contract. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires your landlord to keep the property in a good state of repair. This means they cannot force you to pay for fixing a broken boiler or a leaking roof, provided you did not cause the damage through negligence.

Additionally, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 ensures that rented properties are safe, healthy, and free from things that could cause serious harm. If a property is deemed unfit for human habitation, tenants have the right to take their landlord to court. Whether you are living in a privately rented house share or purpose-built student accommodation, your rights remain strong.

What Landlords Must Fix: The Legal Standards

Knowing exactly who is responsible for what saves you from paying unnecessary bills and prevents arguments with your letting agent. In general, your landlord must maintain the structure of the building and the installations that supply your basic needs.

Landlord Responsibilities

Your landlord is legally obligated to repair and maintain:

• The property’s exterior and structure, including roofs, walls, windows, gutters, and external doors.
• Basins, sinks, baths, toilets, and their pipework.
• Heating and hot water systems, such as boilers, radiators, and gas fires.
• Gas appliances, pipes, and flues. The landlord must arrange an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer and provide you with a copy of the certificate.
• Electrical wiring and any supplied electrical appliances. They must also provide an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) proving the system is safe.

Tenant Responsibilities

As a tenant, you also have duties to keep the property in a good condition. You are expected to:

• Keep the property clean and well-ventilated to prevent avoidable issues like condensation.
• Perform minor maintenance tasks, such as changing standard lightbulbs or unblocking a sink you clogged with food waste.
• Report any repair issues to the landlord promptly before they turn into major structural problems.
• Pay for any damage caused by you or your guests, such as a broken window after a party.

Repair Responsibilities Breakdown

How to Report Repairs to Your Landlord

Reporting an issue correctly is just as important as the repair itself. If a pipe bursts or the fridge stops working, you need to notify your landlord or letting agent immediately. Always do this in writing. An email or a message through the letting agent’s official online portal creates a clear paper trail that you can rely on if a dispute arises later.

Step-by-Step Reporting Process

1. Contact the landlord in writing immediately, detailing the exact problem and attaching clear, timestamped photos of the issue.
2. Request a timeline for when the repair will take place and ask who will be attending the property.
3. Follow up via email if you do not receive a response within 48 hours.
4. Keep a log of all correspondence, including dates and times of any phone calls, and summaries of what was discussed.

If you are splitting a house with friends, make sure one person is the designated point of contact for the landlord to avoid confusion. If you are struggling to manage shared costs for minor tenant-responsible fixes, use our Bills Splitter Tool to divide the expenses fairly among your housemates.

Dealing with Damp, Mould, and Heating Issues

Damp and mould are the most frequent complaints in student housing. According to the Office for National Statistics (2025), 10% of dwellings in the private rented sector in England had a Category 1 (serious) hazard, such as extensive mould or excess cold. Additionally, according to the English Housing Survey (2024), an estimated 1.3 million households were living in damp homes in the UK.

Mould is a serious health hazard that can trigger asthma, allergies, and other severe respiratory issues. If you spot black mould forming on walls or ceilings, report it immediately. Landlords often try to blame tenants for mould, claiming it results from drying clothes indoors or failing to open windows. While daily ventilation is your responsibility, structural dampness, like a leaking roof, blocked gutters, or rising damp, is entirely the landlord’s problem to fix.

Worked Example: Calculating the Cost of Inefficient Heating

A broken boiler or drafty windows can severely impact your student budget. Let us look at how much extra you might pay if your landlord ignores poor insulation and fails to meet minimum energy efficiency standards.

• Scenario A (Well-maintained house): You and three housemates pay £120 a month for gas and electricity. Over a 12-month tenancy, the total energy bill is £1,440 (or £360 per person).
• Scenario B (Poorly maintained house): The property has drafty windows and an outdated, inefficient boiler. You have to keep the heating on for twice as long just to stay warm. Your monthly energy bill spikes to £210. Over 12 months, the total is £2,520 (or £630 per person).
• The Result: Ignoring the maintenance issue costs each tenant an extra £270 a year.

If you are worried about affording high energy bills due to a poorly maintained property, use our Student Budget Calculator to track your outgoings and see where you can adjust your spending. You can also explore our Student Money hub for practical advice on managing utility costs throughout the academic year.

Can You Withhold Rent for Unfinished Repairs?

A common misconception among university students is that you can simply stop paying rent if the landlord refuses to fix a problem. You must never withhold your rent.

If you stop paying rent, you immediately fall into rent arrears. This gives your landlord legal grounds to serve you with an eviction notice, regardless of the property’s terrible condition. Instead of withholding rent, you can sometimes use your rent money to pay for the repairs yourself, but only if you follow a very specific and strict legal process.

The Legal Process for Using Rent to Pay for Repairs

1. Write to your landlord explaining the exact issue and state that you intend to arrange the repair yourself and deduct the cost from your rent if they do not fix it.
2. Allow a reasonable amount of time for them to respond and fix the issue (usually two weeks).
3. If they do not act, obtain three written quotes from professional contractors and send these to your landlord, asking them to choose one.
4. If the landlord still ignores your communication, proceed with the cheapest quote.
5. Pay the contractor directly, send the receipt to your landlord, and deduct that exact amount from your next rent payment.

Taking Action: Escaping Poor Student Housing

If your landlord consistently ignores repairs and maintenance rules, you do not have to suffer in silence. You have the legal right to escalate the issue and force their hand.

Start by contacting your local council’s environmental health department. They have the power to inspect your property using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). If they find serious hazards, they can issue an improvement notice, legally forcing your landlord to carry out the necessary repairs within a strict timeframe. If the landlord ignores the council, they can face massive fines.

You can also complain to a redress scheme if you rent through a letting agent. All letting agents must belong to a government-approved redress scheme, such as The Property Ombudsman. If the agent ignores your repair requests, the ombudsman can investigate and potentially award you compensation.

Worked Example: Negotiating a Rent Reduction

Sometimes, a repair takes weeks to complete, leaving you without a vital amenity like a washing machine or a working shower. You can request a rent reduction for the period you were inconvenienced.

• The Situation: Your only shower breaks, and the landlord takes 14 days to fix it. Your monthly rent is £600.
• The Calculation: Divide your monthly rent by 30 to find your daily rent (£600 / 30 = £20 per day).
• The Request: You calculate that you lived without a shower for 14 days. You ask the landlord for a 25% reduction on your daily rent for those 14 days (£5 per day).
• The Result: You request a total rent refund of £70 (£5 x 14 days) for the inconvenience. Keep your request polite, factual, and backed by your written repair logs.

Finding a safe, well-maintained house is a massive part of your university experience. When you start searching for your next property, use our Rent Affordability Calculator to ensure you are looking at places that fit your budget. Make sure to read reviews of letting agents and ask current tenants about their experiences with repairs before you sign anything. Check out our Accommodation section for more tips on spotting red flags during house viewings.