Landlord Won't Do Repairs? The Route That Actually Works
You reported it. They said someone would come. Nobody came. You reported it again.
This is the most common complaint in renting, and there is a route through it that works. It runs through your council rather than through arguing with your landlord, and it costs you nothing.
The short version
- Report in writing, always. Phone calls don't exist when it matters.
- Environmental health is the strongest free tool you have, and most renters never use it.
- Never withhold rent. Three months of arrears is a mandatory ground for possession.
- Reporting is much safer than it was, because no-fault eviction ended in May 2026.
Step 1: report it properly
Half of all repair problems are really reporting problems.
Email, or a letter you keep a copy of. If you phone, follow it with "just to confirm what we discussed" in writing the same day.
Include:
- What's wrong, precisely. "Water coming through the ceiling in the back bedroom, worst after rain, started 3 September" beats "there's a leak".
- Photographs, dated, and more as it develops.
- Who lives there. Children, anyone elderly, pregnant, disabled, or with a health condition. This changes the urgency and it should.
- A request for a timescale, and confirmation of who will attend.
Keep the whole thread. Everything below depends on being able to show what you reported and when.
Step 2: know what's reasonable
There's no single statutory list for private renting, but this is the framework councils and courts work to:
- Emergency, 24 hours. No heating or hot water in cold weather, gas leak, dangerous electrics, major leak, no water. What counts as an emergency repair.
- Urgent, 3 to 7 days. Partial heating failure, a leaking toilet, a broken external lock.
- Routine, up to 28 days. Dripping taps, minor plaster damage.
Awaab's Law sets binding timescales in social housing from 27 October 2025. It doesn't apply to private renting yet and isn't expected to before 2027.
Step 3: chase, in writing
Refer to your original report and its date. Set a reasonable deadline. Say what you'll do next.
Something like: "I reported this on 3 September and again on 18 September. It remains unrepaired. Please confirm by 30 September when the work will be done, otherwise I will contact the council's environmental health team."
That sentence alone resolves a surprising number, because most landlords would rather do the repair than have an officer inspect their property.
Step 4: the agent's complaints procedure and redress scheme
If a letting agent is involved, they must belong to a government approved redress scheme. Use their own complaints procedure first, then escalate to the scheme.
Free, independent, and they can order compensation. What The Property Ombudsman does.
If your landlord manages the property themselves, there is currently no equivalent scheme, which is a real gap. A Landlord Ombudsman becomes mandatory from late 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act.
Step 5: environmental health, the one that works
This is the step most renters skip and the one with genuine legal force.
Your council can inspect the property and assess hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. That covers damp and mould, excess cold, electrical danger, fire safety, structural problems, and more.
Where they find a serious hazard they can serve an improvement notice, which is legally enforceable. Ignoring it can lead to prosecution or a civil penalty, and the council can do the work and bill the landlord.
It costs you nothing, and it produces an independent report written by someone with no stake in the argument. That report is worth a great deal if things go further.
Ring your council and ask for private sector housing or environmental health. Have your written reports ready.
Step 6: court, if it comes to it
Two routes.
Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. If the property isn't fit to live in, you can take the landlord to court directly without waiting for the council. The court can order repairs and award compensation. If your home is unfit.
Disrepair claim for breach of the repairing obligation, seeking the work plus damages for the period you didn't get what you paid for.
Take advice first. Some solicitors handle disrepair on a no-win-no-fee basis, and Shelter and Citizens Advice will tell you whether you have a case.
What not to do
Don't withhold rent. It feels like the obvious lever and it is the worst available move. Your rent obligation and their repair obligation are separate, so withholding simply creates arrears, and three months of arrears is a mandatory ground where the court has no discretion to weigh up your broken boiler.
There is a lawful way to arrange a repair and recover the cost, but it has to be followed in strict order. Can I withhold rent for repairs sets out the seven steps. Get free advice before you spend anything.
Don't do gas or electrical work yourself, or let an unregistered friend do it.
Don't stop reporting. Gaps in the record get used against you.
Keep track of what it costs you
If this runs on, you may be able to negotiate a rent reduction or claim compensation, and that depends entirely on evidence gathered at the time.
Note the dates, receipts for heaters or a launderette, extra food costs if you couldn't cook, damaged belongings, and any nights you stayed elsewhere. Photograph a thermometer if it's about cold.
You can report without fear now
The old calculation was real: complain about repairs, receive a Section 21, lose your home in two months. It kept a great many people in bad housing.
Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026. A landlord now needs a specified ground and has to prove it in court, and "the tenant kept asking about the damp" is not one.
If you've been putting up with something for that reason, the reason has gone. What the Renters' Rights Act changed.
The honest summary
Report in writing with photographs and say who lives there. Chase with a deadline and name the next step. Use the agent's redress scheme, then environmental health.
Keep paying rent throughout, and keep every message.
Most repairs get done at the point a landlord realises you know the process. The ones that don't are exactly the ones environmental health exists for.
And whether it got fixed or not, review your landlord and agent. How someone handles repairs is the single most useful thing the next tenant could know, and the thing they can least easily find out.
This guide covers England and reflects the position at August 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. General information rather than legal advice. Sources: GOV.UK, private renting repairs, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11, Shelter, repairs advice.