Your landlord won't fix damp, mould or disrepair: how to escalate
Living with damp, mould or disrepair while the landlord ignores you is a common renting problem, and in England there is a structured way to escalate. Start by reporting each problem in writing with dated photos. Landlords have repairing obligations under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 that cannot be signed away, and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 lets tenants take a landlord to court directly. If they still do nothing, your local council's environmental health team can inspect and serve an Improvement Notice.
Written by the team behind Agent Rae, our tenant rights specialist. This guide is general information about UK law, reviewed for accuracy.Start with a written record
Living with damp, mould, a broken boiler or other disrepair, while the landlord ignores your messages, is one of the most common renting problems, and in England there is a structured way to escalate.
Start by creating a written record. Report the problem to your landlord or agent in writing (email or letter), describing each affected room, when it started and how bad it is, with dated photographs. This matters legally: much of what follows depends on showing you told the landlord and gave them a reasonable chance to act. Two to four weeks is often reasonable for a straightforward repair, though structural damp can take longer.
Repairing obligations that cannot be signed away
Landlords have repairing obligations that cannot be signed away. Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, they must keep the structure and exterior in repair, including damp from leaking roofs, failed guttering or defective damp-proofing. Separately, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 lets tenants take a landlord to court directly where a home is unfit to live in.
The council and court routes
If the landlord still does nothing, contact your local council's environmental health team. They can inspect under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), and where they find a serious hazard they can serve an Improvement Notice that legally requires the landlord to carry out the work. A useful side effect: where the council has served relevant notices, the law restricts a landlord's ability to respond with a retaliatory Section 21 eviction.
Court action for repairs and compensation is also possible where the landlord has failed to act in a reasonable time, and there is a pre-action protocol for disrepair claims that sets out the steps first. This is the England framework; Wales and Scotland have their own regimes.
Trigger the obligation and build the recordRae drafts a clear, dated formal complaint, with a deadline and a reference to the landlord's repairing duties. That both triggers the obligation and builds the record the council or a court will want to see.£5 launch price (normally £9.99)Start my letterCommon questions
What should I do first if my landlord ignores a repair?
Create a written record. Report the problem in writing (email or letter), describing each affected room, when it started and how bad it is, with dated photographs. Much of what follows depends on showing you told the landlord and gave them a reasonable chance to act.
What repairs is my landlord legally responsible for?
Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, landlords must keep the structure and exterior in repair, including damp from leaking roofs, failed guttering or defective damp-proofing. These obligations cannot be signed away.
Can the council make my landlord do the work?
Yes. Your local council's environmental health team can inspect under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), and where they find a serious hazard they can serve an Improvement Notice that legally requires the landlord to carry out the work.
Can my landlord evict me for complaining about disrepair?
It is restricted. Where the council has served relevant notices, the law restricts a landlord's ability to respond with a retaliatory Section 21 eviction. That is a useful side effect of involving environmental health.