Scope: England and Wales, with an important difference. Section 11 applies in both, but Wales layers the fitness for human habitation duty from the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 on top with its own prescriptive requirements — see also repairs and hazards in Wales. Verified against the legislation on 10 August 2026.
Almost every repair dispute comes down to one question, and it is not "is it broken". It is whose responsibility is it — and the answer is in a section written in 1985 that most landlords have never read.
What section 11 puts on you
Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies a covenant into almost every tenancy of under seven years. It cannot be contracted out of. A clause in your agreement making the tenant responsible for the boiler is void, not clever.
Three limbs:
- The structure and exterior — walls, roof, foundations, external doors and windows, gutters, drains and external pipes.
- Installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity and sanitation — basins, sinks, baths, lavatories, and the pipework and wiring serving them.
- Installations for space heating and heating water — the boiler, the radiators, the immersion.
Room by room
| Item | Whose |
|---|
| Roof leak, gutters, external windows | Landlord — structure and exterior |
| Boiler, radiators, immersion heater | Landlord — heating installation |
| Bath, basin, WC, and their pipework | Landlord — sanitation |
| Fixed wiring, sockets, consumer unit | Landlord — electricity installation |
| Blocked sink caused by the tenant's use | Tenant — not disrepair |
| Light bulbs, fuses in tenant's own appliances | Tenant |
| The tenant's own furniture and appliances | Tenant |
| Cooker or fridge you supplied | Landlord by contract, not by s.11 — but you supplied it, so you maintain it |
| Garden and internal decoration | Usually tenant, by the agreement |
| Damage caused by the tenant | Tenant — see the tenant-like manner duty below |
Where the tenant's duty starts
The tenant must use the property in a tenant-like manner: the small jobs a reasonable occupier does. Unblocking a sink they blocked, replacing bulbs, turning off the water when going away in winter, letting you know when something breaks.
That last one matters more than any of the others, because of how the duty is triggered.
The trigger: you must know
Your section 11 obligation to repair generally arises when you have notice of the disrepair. You are not liable for a defect nobody told you about and you could not have known — which is exactly why a reporting route the tenant actually uses is a legal protection, not just good service. It is also why "they never told me" fails the moment there is a text message from four months ago.
Keep a record of what was reported and when. See handling tenant complaints.
Section 11 is the floor, not the ceiling
- Fitness for human habitation. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 inserted section 9A, requiring the property be fit at the start and throughout — a wider test than disrepair.
- Hazards. The council can act under the HHSRS regardless of section 11, and an improvement notice is enforceable on its own terms.
- Awaab's Law. For prescribed hazards, fixed timescales now apply on top of the covenant — see Awaab's Law in the private sector.
So "is it section 11 disrepair" is the first question, not the only one. Something can be outside the covenant and still make the property unfit.
Run the free compliance check to see what applies to your property.
Common questions
Can I make the tenant responsible for the boiler?
No. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies a repairing covenant into almost every tenancy under seven years and it cannot be contracted out of. Space heating and water heating installations are expressly the landlord responsibility, so a clause transferring the boiler to the tenant is void rather than clever.
What counts as the tenant responsibility?
Using the property in a tenant-like manner — the small jobs a reasonable occupier does. Unblocking a sink they blocked, replacing light bulbs, turning the water off before a winter absence, and telling you promptly when something breaks. Damage they cause is theirs. Their own furniture and appliances are theirs.
Am I liable for a problem I did not know about?
Generally not. The section 11 duty to repair arises when you have notice of the disrepair, so you are not usually liable for a defect nobody reported and you could not have known about. That is why a reporting route the tenant actually uses is a legal protection rather than merely good service — and why "they never told me" collapses the moment a text from four months ago appears.
Is the position different in Wales?
Section 11 applies in both, but Wales adds the fitness for human habitation duty under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, with prescriptive requirements set out in the 2022 Regulations including specific alarm and electrical safety standards. A Welsh landlord meeting section 11 alone is not necessarily meeting the Welsh test.