Disrepair

Tenant's responsibilities

Notification

In most instances, you need to inform your landlord of the disrepair [preferably in writing] and give him or her reasonable time to remedy it before taking any further action. This may not be possible [and therefore, not a requirement] in cases of emergency.

Tenant-like behaviour

Implicit in every tenancy agreement is that the tenant should behave in a responsible and "tenant-like manner". This is nothing more than generally looking after the property and reporting to the landlord any potential repair problem.

Providing access

You are legally required to provide reasonable access to your landlord so that he or she can carry out repairs. Again your landlord is required to give you "reasonable notice" of any inspection or work to be carried out.

Be very wary if your landlord asks you to move out for repairs to be done. This will be required only in very exceptional cases where the work really cannot be done otherwise. In such instances, you should always seek advice [see List of Useful contacts].

"Reasonable notice" is considered to be a minimum of 24 hours.

"Mitigating losses"

If you have suffered damage as a result of disrepair then you will have been expected to "mitigate" your losses. In other words you should have taken any reasonable action to keep your losses to a minimum.

For example, if your roof is leaking onto your television then naturally you would be expected to have moved your TV out of the way.

Home Improvement Grants

If the repair is your responsibility, or it counts as an "improvement" for which neither landlord or tenant is legally responsible, then you should investigate whether you qualify for a Home Improvement Grant.

There are a number of different Home Improvement Grants:

a) Minor Works Assistance Grant
This grant is for more minor work or one specific repair, say, rewiring. The maximum value of the grant is up to several thousand pounds.

b) House Renovation Grant
This grant is for major work where the property is in such bad repair that it is legally considered to be unfit for human habitation.

c) Common Parts Grant
This grant is for work to the "common parts" of the property, which is the parts of the building that more than one household share or are responsible for. For example, the communal stairs, shared bathrooms/WC's, or roof in houses in multiple occupation.

d) Disabled Facilities Grant
This grant is for adaptations for a disabled person to remain living the property.

e) House in Multiple Occupation [HMO] Grant
HMO grants are available to landlords in order to bring a house in multiple occupation up to standard with regard to facilities, means of escape in case of fire etc.

Home Improvement Grants are administered by the Environmental Health Department of the Local Authority. [see Useful Contacts].

There is also a specialist Home Improvement Agency, which operates in the Borough and the neighbouring City of Westminster called Staying Put Services [see Useful Contacts].