Reporting maintenance: what counts as urgent, and what to include

Urgent or routine?

Urgent — phone immediately, then confirm in writing:

• No hot water
• No working heating in cold weather
• Serious water leak, burst pipe or flooding
• Gas leak or smell of gas
• Electrical fault, sparking, or exposed wiring
• Blocked or broken toilet where it’s the only one
• Broken lock, door or window leaving the property insecure
• Sewage or drainage overflow
• Anything making the property unsafe or uninhabitable

Routine — report in writing, promptly:

• Dripping tap, slow drain
• Sticking door or window
• Worn seal, cracked tile, loose handle
• Failing appliance still partly working
• Faulty light fitting or single dead outlet
• Gutter needing clearing

Report routine items promptly anyway. A slow drain is a cheap fix and a flooded bathroom is not.

What to include

Six things. Every one shortens the fix.

• What is wrong — specific, not general
• Exactly where — “the pipe under the kitchen sink,” not “the kitchen”
• When it started, and whether it’s worsening
• What triggers it — “only when the hot tap runs,” “only after heavy rain”
• Photos or a short video — a ten-second video of a running leak is worth three paragraphs
• Your availability for access, and whether a key can be used

Compare: “Something’s leaking in the kitchen” against “Water drips from the joint under the kitchen sink whenever the hot tap runs, started Tuesday, worse each day, photo attached. Home after 4pm weekdays or any time Saturday.”

The second gets a plumber. The first gets a phone call, then a visit to look, then a plumber.

Who pays for what

Usually the landlord

• Fair wear and tear
• Appliance failure through age
• Structural and weathertightness issues
• Anything required by the Healthy Homes Standards
• Gutters, roof, exterior washing

Usually the tenant

• Damage caused by you, your household or your guests
• Blockages caused by what was put down the drain
• Replacing light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries within the tenancy
• Lawns and gardens, where the agreement says so
• Cleaning

Careless or accidental damage: a tenant is liable up to the lesser of the landlord’s insurance excess or four weeks’ rent, provided the damage wasn’t intentional. Intentional damage is fully the tenant’s liability, uncapped.

If you’re unsure who’s responsible, report it anyway. Failing to report a problem you thought was yours, and letting it worsen, is a considerably more expensive outcome.

Access, and the notice you’re owed

For necessary repairs and maintenance, your landlord or their contractor must give at least 24 hours’ notice, and can only enter between 8am and 7pm.

For non-urgent or cosmetic work, access times must be agreed, not merely notified. In a genuine emergency, no notice is required.

Repairs stall most often on access rather than on the trade, so make it easy: give your availability up front, and say clearly whether the manager may use a key. Note that agreeing to a plumber on Tuesday is not agreeing to an inspection on Wednesday.

Keep a record

Log every request in writing, with dates, and keep the replies. That record establishes when you first reported a problem — which matters enormously if it turns out to be the early sign of something structural.

If a request is ignored, there is a defined escalation path: a written deadline, a 14-day notice to remedy, then the Tenancy Tribunal. Set out step by step in what to do when repairs aren’t getting done.

Never withhold rent to force a repair. It puts you in breach and undermines your position even when you’re entirely in the right.

Frequently asked questions