The short answer
For a private landlord in England there is no set deadline in days today. The duty is to repair, and to do it in a time that fits the problem: straight away for anything dangerous, promptly for anything that makes the home hard to live in, and within a reasonable period for the rest. Timescales in days are coming for private lets through Awaab’s Law, but they are still being consulted on.
Until then, a working guide most landlords can keep to: make an emergency safe within 24 hours, deal with an urgent repair within about a week, and a routine one within two weeks. Tell the tenant what will happen and when, and keep to it.
Timescales by type of repair
- Emergency: make safe within 24 hours. No heating or hot water in cold weather, a serious leak or flooding, dangerous electrics, a front door or window that will not lock, sewage coming back up, an alarm not working. If gas is smelt, the tenant calls the gas emergency line first, before you
- Urgent: within about 7 days. Serious damp or mould, loss of hot water in milder weather, a toilet out of use where there is a second one, a broken appliance you supplied that the household depends on
- Routine: within about 14 days. A dripping tap, a sticking door, a cracked tile, a loose handrail that is not yet a hazard
“Make safe” and “fix” are different. A plumber who isolates a burst pipe at midnight has dealt with the emergency; the new section of pipe can follow in daylight. Tell the tenant both dates.
What the law says today
- The repair duty. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026) makes the landlord keep the structure and exterior in repair, and the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, heating and hot water in repair and proper working order. It sets no number of days
- What GOV.UK tells tenants. “Private renting: repairs” (read 20 October 2026) tells tenants to contact the landlord straight away about faults that could damage health, such as faulty electrical wiring, and says the landlord should tell the tenant when they can expect the repairs to be done. Tenants are told to keep paying rent while they wait. If repairs are not done, they are told to contact the council’s environmental health department, which must take action if it thinks the problems could harm them, and the council can assess the home under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System
- Hazards. The government’s consultation on Awaab’s Law (below) says landlords are already required to ensure their homes are free of serious hazards
Awaab’s Law and private landlords
Awaab’s Law sets timescales for investigating and fixing hazards such as damp and mould. It applies to social housing now. For private tenancies, GOV.UK published the consultation “Extending Awaab’s Law to private rented tenancies and to licences” on 9 October 2026, open until 18 December 2026 (read 20 October 2026). It puts forward the social housing timescales as a starting point, with alternatives: emergency hazards made safe as soon as practicable and within 24 hours, investigations within 10 working days, and significant hazards made safe within 5 working days. It gives 2027 as the earliest feasible start, and its impact assessment assumes it is phased in over 2028, 2029 and 2030. Regulations must be made first. Until they are, these are not deadlines for a private landlord, but they show where the rules are heading.
What happens if a landlord is slow
- The tenant goes to the council. If the council finds a serious hazard, GOV.UK’s “Renting out your property” (read 20 October 2026) says it can issue an improvement notice, fix the hazard itself and bill you, or stop part or all of the home being used
- Slow repairs are what housing disrepair claims are built on, and the guide to avoiding them is linked below
- The record matters more than the speech. A dated report, a dated reply and a dated invoice answer “how long did it take?” without argument
Step by step when a repair comes in
- Acknowledge it the same day, with the category you have put it in and the next step
- Make it safe first if it is an emergency, then plan the full repair
- Give written notice of visits. Section 11(6) of the 1985 Act implies 24 hours’ notice in writing to view the condition at reasonable times
- Chase your contractor, not just the tenant. Most delays are a trade who did not turn up
- Close it in writing and keep the invoice
How LetCompliance keeps you to time
- A response date on every repair. Set the priority and the clock starts from the report: 24 hours for emergency, 7 days for urgent, 14 days for routine. The emergency clock matches the consultation’s proposal; the urgent and routine clocks are LetCompliance’s own guide
- Warnings before a date passes. You are emailed when a repair is due soon and when it has gone past its date. The email says plainly that these are best-practice windows, not yet law for private landlords
- Nothing left untriaged. A report with no priority set triggers a reminder after 24 hours, sooner if the tenant marked it urgent, then twice more three days apart
- The tenant sees progress in their portal, which cuts down the “any news?” messages
- Getting it done. Send a work order to your own contractor on the 3-day trial and paid plans from £7.99 a month. If you have nobody, a contractor can be found for you for a one-off £39, refunded if nobody suitable is found
- The dated trail. Report, priority, contractor, visit notice, completion and cost stay with the property
Common mistakes
- Treating “I’ll sort it” as an answer. Give a date
- Waiting for a quote before making an emergency safe
- Calling damp and mould a lifestyle problem before anyone has looked for a cause
- Not telling the tenant when the contractor is coming
- Closing the job without confirming with the tenant that it is fixed
How long does a landlord have to fix a boiler?
No heating or hot water in cold weather is an emergency: aim to restore heat or provide temporary heaters within 24 hours, with the full repair as soon as the engineer and parts allow.
Does Awaab’s Law apply to private landlords?
Not yet. It applies to social housing. The government is consulting until 18 December 2026 on extending it to private tenancies, with 2027 the earliest start it describes.
Can a tenant withhold rent if repairs are not done?
GOV.UK tells tenants to keep paying rent while they wait for repairs, and to contact the council if the landlord does not act. Unpaid rent still counts as arrears.
How long should a landlord take to fix damp and mould?
Treat it as urgent at least: find the cause within days and fix it within about 7 days, faster where someone in the home is vulnerable or the mould is spreading.
What LetCompliance does not do here
- It does not answer calls or run an out-of-hours line
- The clocks are a guide you set; none is a legal deadline for a private landlord today
- It does not supply contractors, apart from the paid sourcing service
