Landlord Access to Property: 24-Hour Notice Rule, Section 11(6)

You need to get into your rental: to check its condition, let a contractor in or have the gas checked. How much notice do you have to give, and what if the tenant says no? "I own the property, I can enter whenever I like" is wrong. So is "the tenant can refuse forever".

In England the rule is in Section 11(6) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985: a landlord keeps a right of entry to view the condition and state of repair at "reasonable times of the day" on at least 24 hours’ written notice. Everything else (inspections, viewings for re-letting, contractor visits, gas safety checks, rent inspections) hangs off that section, the tenant’s right to live there undisturbed (the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment) and the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

This is the 2026 access rulebook for England: the notice, when a tenant can refuse, when you can go in without notice, what to keep on record, and the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 points most landlords don’t see coming.

The statutory baseline: Section 11(6) LTA 1985

Section 11(6) gives the landlord (and anyone authorised in writing by the landlord) the right to enter the dwelling at reasonable times of the day, on giving 24 hours’ notice in writing to the occupier, for the purpose of viewing the condition and state of repair of the premises.

Three things that are commonly missed:

1. 1The notice must be in writing. A phone call or a verbal "I’ll pop round tomorrow" is not Section 11(6) notice.
2. 224 hours is the minimum, not the standard. Give 48 hours where you can. It’s a sensible habit and gives the tenant time to rearrange.
3. 3"Reasonable times of the day" does not include early evenings, weekends without consent, or any time that is unreasonable for the particular occupant (e.g. a night-shift worker).

From £7.99 a month, LetCompliance puts that notice in writing for you: when you book an inspection it can email the tenant a 24-hour notice with the visit date, and the visit and its photos are kept against the property. Get started

What "reasonable times of the day" actually means

Sensible defaults:

• Weekdays 9am to 6pm is presumptively reasonable for routine inspection
• Saturdays require the tenant’s consent to be reasonable
• Sundays and bank holidays are presumptively unreasonable
• Evenings after 6pm and mornings before 9am are best avoided unless the tenant asks for them, except in a genuine emergency

Stick to these times. A pattern of repeated visits or attempts to get in can amount to harassment under section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, which is a criminal offence if it’s done to make the tenant leave or stop using their rights.

What you can enter for, and on what notice

Key point: marketing viewings have no statutory basis. They depend on a clause in the tenancy agreement. A landlord who attempts to bring viewings without an agreement clause and without consent risks harassment.

Tenant’s right to refuse: when is it lawful?

A tenant may lawfully refuse access if:

• The notice was less than 24 hours, or wasn’t in writing
• The proposed time is genuinely unreasonable for that household
• The visitor is not the landlord or a person authorised in writing
• The purpose is outside Section 11(6) and outside the tenancy agreement (e.g. a marketing viewing where the agreement is silent)
• There is a serious safeguarding concern (e.g. an alleged abuser is among the visitors)

The tenant cannot lawfully refuse:

• A reasonable Section 11(6) inspection at a reasonable time on proper notice
• A statutory safety inspection (Gas Safe, EICR) where reasonable arrangements have been offered
• Access to investigate a hazard the tenant themselves reported (refusing this collapses the tenant’s own complaint)

What to do if the tenant refuses lawfully required access

The landlord cannot force entry. What the landlord can do:

1. 1Document every attempt in writing (email, with audit log). Date, time, purpose, response.
2. 2Offer alternative dates: at least three, spread over a week
3. 3Issue a formal request referencing the statutory ground and the consequence
4. 4For Gas Safety / EICR: record that you asked for access and could not get it. The HSE explicitly states "you must be able to demonstrate that you took all reasonable steps". A documented attempt protects you.
5. 5For repairs: keep a record, and put in writing who is responsible for any damage that follows
6. 6As a last resort, apply to the County Court for an injunction requiring access

Forcing entry without consent is trespass, and where the tenant remains lawfully in possession it can be harassment under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. Both expose the landlord to civil and criminal liability.

Emergency entry: when the rules don’t apply

Common law recognises a defence of necessity for entry without notice in genuine emergencies:

• Fire or smoke
• Flood (escape of water threatening structure or neighbouring properties)
• Gas leak
• Electrical fault posing immediate risk
• Reasonable belief that an occupant has come to harm

Test: the landlord must have an honest, reasonable belief at the time that immediate entry is necessary to prevent harm. Suspecting unpaid rent or wanting to "check up" is not emergency.

After emergency entry: notify the tenant in writing within 24 hours setting out the time, reason, what was done, and any damage. Repair any forced entry damage at your cost.

The harassment trap: pattern of entry

Section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 makes it a criminal offence to do acts likely to interfere with the peace or comfort of the residential occupier, with the intent to cause the occupier to leave or to refrain from exercising rights. Repeated entry, drop-ins, attempts to re-let mid-tenancy and "checks" without notice all count.

Consequences:

• Criminal conviction: a fine or, in serious cases, imprisonment
• Civil damages to the tenant for unlawful eviction or harassment (these can run to tens of thousands of pounds)
• Rent Repayment Order of up to two years’ rent (offences from 1 May 2026)

Renters’ Rights Act 2025 implications

The RRA 2025 itself does not rewrite Section 11(6). What it does is:

1. 1Requires a written tenancy agreement for every tenancy from 1 May 2026 (or written statement of terms), so the marketing-viewing clause is now a known quantity, not a verbal assumption
2. 2Creates a new Landlord Ombudsman for private renting: it isn’t open yet, and membership is expected to become mandatory in 2028. Once it opens, tenants will be able to complain to it about how you run the tenancy
3. 3Paves the way for the Decent Homes Standard in private rentals, planned from 2035. Regular, lawful inspections are how you’ll know your property meets it

In practice: from 1 May 2026, write your access protocol into the tenancy agreement, log every entry, and serve every Section 11(6) notice in writing with audit log evidence. Property inspection software handles that last step: it emails each household written notice of the visit with the date and time, and the audit log keeps the hours of notice given.

A landlord access protocol that survives 2026 scrutiny

Adopt the following as your house style:

1. 148 hours’ written notice for every routine inspection (above the 24-hour minimum)
2. 2One inspection slot per quarter, at most: routine inspections more often than this start to look intrusive
3. 3The tenant’s preferred day and time offered first, with two alternatives
4. 4Inspect only what you gave notice for: don’t arrive for "viewing condition" and start photographing the wardrobe
5. 5Inspection record: brief, factual, with photographs of the areas inspected, shared with the tenant within 48 hours
6. 6Emergency entry log: kept separate from routine visits, recording the trigger, what you did and how you told the tenant
7. 7Audit trail in one place so the Ombudsman or court can read it as a single timeline

How LetCompliance helps

Access comes up all through a let: the check-in inventory, the routine inspection, the gas engineer, the repair. LetCompliance keeps each visit against the property it belongs to.

• Inspections and repairs: each inspection with its photos, and each repair with its contractor, logged against the property.
• Activity log: every action in your account is time-stamped, so the order of events is on file.
• Tenant portal: the tenant reports repairs in writing, with photos, instead of in a phone call nobody can find later.
• Compliance score: a 0 to 100 score per property, with the gas safety and EICR dates and reminders at 90, 30, 14, 7 and 1 days, so you ask for access in good time.

Get started. One property is free, and the next inspection sits on that property’s record, dated.

Where to go next

• Damp and mould landlord responsibility England 2026: the inspection-led response
• Gas Safety Certificate rules UK: the 12-month renewal and the "all reasonable steps" duty
• EICR requirements UK 2026: the 5-year inspection regime
• What documents must a landlord give a new tenant in England: the move-in pack, including written terms