Private Landlords And Disrepair

Quick Guide

If you are a tenant, your landlord has certain obligations. The rules and procedures vary depending on the type of tenancy you have, but certain basic rules are always the same. Important: If you have a licence rather than a tenancy, you may not have all of these rights. Get advice if you're not sure whether you're a tenant or a licensee.

Carrying out certain kinds of repairs

Landlords are responsible for most repairs to the exterior or structure of a property. This means that problems with the roof, chimneys, walls, guttering and drains are the responsibility of the landlord. Landlords are also responsible for keeping the equipment for supplying water, gas and electricity in safe working order. Tenants often have responsibility for some minor repairs and maintenance. This usually relates to: internal decorations, gardens, furniture or equipment. Check your agreement to see what it says. Wigan and Leigh Housing can help you with this.

Meeting Safety Standards

Landlords have legal obligations to ensure the safety of tenants. They must:

• get a gas safety certificate for every appliance in the property. These must be issued by a CORGI registered gas engineer and renewed every year
• ensure that any necessary work identified by gas engineers is carried out
• ensure furniture meest fire safety standards
• ensure electrical equipment provided is safe

Tenants can also ask landlords to fit and maintain carbon monoxide detectors. Although these are not legal requirements, it is in the landlord's best interest as well as the tenants'.

Disrepair

If you have reported repairs to the Landlord but he has failed to carry these out, and you feel that this is having a detrimental effect on you, you can ask Wigan Council’s Environmental Services Department carry out an inspection of the property. The Council has the ability to enforce the Landlord to carry out the repairs to bring the property back up to standard. Wigan Council cannot accept a duty to people presenting as homeless as a result of repairs not being carried out unless the Environmental Services Department have confirmed that you cannot live there because these repairs have not been done.