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What is Section 11 repairs?
Last verified 31 October 2026
Section 11 repairs are the repairing duties that section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 writes into covered residential tenancies in England and Wales. The landlord must keep the structure and exterior of the home in repair, along with the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and heating water.
Why it matters to landlords
In practice this means roof, walls, windows, gutters and drains, plus basins, sinks, baths, toilets, boiler and pipework. A clause in the tenancy agreement that tries to pass these repairs to the tenant is generally ineffective. What counts as adequate depends on the age, character and expected life of the property and its locality.
Some things are outside the duty: repairs caused by the tenant failing to use the property in a tenant-like manner, rebuilding after fire, flood, storm or other unavoidable accident, and items the tenant is entitled to remove. In a flat, the duty can reach common parts and shared installations you control where a defect affects the tenant's enjoyment of the home. The section also lets you, or someone you authorise in writing, view the condition of the property at reasonable times on 24 hours' written notice. GOV.UK describes the same split in plain terms on its repairs page.
Example
Maria's tenant in Cardiff reports on 4 February 2027 that the boiler has stopped heating the radiators. Heating and hot water installations fall under section 11, so Maria arranges an engineer rather than telling the tenant to buy a part.
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