There are legal protections in place to prevent landlords from evicting tenants who make complaints about repairs. The purpose of these protections are to prevent tenants from feeling unable to complain about poor property conditions because they fear eviction.
Steps to be taken when a property is in disrepair
If there are repairs issues in the property that are the landlord’s responsibility to deal with, then tenants should write to the landlord and clearly set out what the problems are - providing evidence if possible. The Landlord then has a duty to adequately respond within 14 days, however, they should respond and deal with the repairs sooner if the repairs are urgent.
In order for the landlord's response to be adequate, it must set out the action that they intend to take and a reasonable timescale within which this action will take place. If the landlord does not provide an adequate response, then the tenant can contact the local authority. For more information on what constitutes disrepair and who has responsibility for dealing with different issues, please see this article.
When can a Landlord be prevented from evicting you?
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After the Landlord receives a notice from the local authority
Landlords cannot rely on a Section 21 eviction notice within 6 months of having received an “improvement notice” or an “emergency remedial action notice” from the council. These are notices that the council may issue after having inspected the property and concluded that significant hazards are present. Please see here for more information on a council’s powers regarding repairs issues.
- After not adequately responding to a tenant complaint that later results in a notice from the local authority
A Section 21 notice will also be invalid if the following is found:
- that before the section 21 notice was served, the tenant made a written complaint to the landlord (or landlord’s agent), the landlord failed to provide an adequate response and then they served a S21 notice.
- a complaint was made to the Local Housing Authority (either before or after the S21 notice was served ) about the same or substantially the same repairs issues as had been reported to the landlord, which then resulted in the local authority issuing an “improvement notice” or “emergency remedial action notice”
Information on this site is by way of general guidance only and may not apply in your particular circumstances. You should not act or refrain from acting upon information on this site without seeking independent legal advice.