Maintenance and repairs

Your landlord or agent is responsible for all maintenance and repairs in your property, unless, it was damage caused by a tenant.

If you have maintenance issues, it is important your report these promptly to your landlord in writing or through their maintenance portal if they have one. You should keep all correspondence on maintenance and repairs in writing so they can be referred back to if needed. If the damage or maintenance required, was caused by a tenant, then the landlord will likely still fix this, however, the cost of the repairs will be passed to the tenants.

Your landlord or agent must carry out repairs within a reasonable period of time. Timescales will depend on how serious the problem is. It is important to ask the landlord or agent at the time of reporting, how long they think it will take to resolve and ask they keep you informed during the process.

Tenants will have responsibilities for maintenance and repairs in the property and it is important you understand what these are, prior to signing your agreement.

As tenants, you must:

• Keep your property reasonably clean
• Carry out safety checks on any electrical appliances you bring into the property
• Keep gardens and outside areas in a reasonable state
• Make sure your home is well ventilated to help avoid condensation
• Change light bulbs, batteries in smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors etc.
• Check your contract for other areas you might be responsible, for example, cleaning windows, carpets etc.