You noticed it on a Tuesday. A brown ring on the bedroom ceiling, no bigger than a saucer. By the weekend it had doubled, the plaster had gone soft, and a slow drip was landing on the carpet. You have messaged the agent twice and nothing has happened.
A water leak that comes from the building is your landlord's responsibility, and the law is clear about it. What follows is which leaks your landlord must repair, how fast they have to act, and what you can claim back for water damage to your things.
Is a water leak the landlord's responsibility or the tenant's?
Most leaks in a rented home are your landlord's responsibility. In England, under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord must keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair, which covers the roof and walls, and the section expressly names the drains, gutters and external pipes. The same section makes them responsible for the pipework and installations that bring water in and take waste away.
So a leaking roof, a failed gutter, rain getting in through a rotten window, a burst supply pipe, a leaking toilet cistern, these all sit with your landlord. They cannot sign that duty away in your tenancy agreement. A clause that says repairs are down to you has no effect against Section 11. In Wales, Section 11 has not applied to occupation contracts since 1 December 2022. The repairing duty is in section 92 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, with a fitness duty in section 91.
The leaks that are usually your responsibility are ones you cause yourself and ones from appliances you own.
Your landlord must fix
- The roof, walls, windows, gutters, drains and external pipes
- The water supply pipes and the waste pipes behind your walls
- Baths, sinks, basins and toilets, and the plumbing that serves them
- Repairing the damage a leak causes to ceilings, walls and plaster
Usually down to you
- A leak you caused, like an overflowing bath left running
- Your own appliances, such as a washing machine you plumbed in
- Clearing a minor blockage you created
- Telling the landlord promptly so the problem can be fixed
Is condensation damp the same as a leak?
A leak is water getting in from outside or escaping from the pipework, and it physically damages the building. That is disrepair, and your landlord has to put it right. Condensation is different. It forms when warm, moist air meets a cold surface, and on its own the courts have held it is not disrepair, because nothing is broken.
If water is getting in, a patch that tracks down from the ceiling or a wall that darkens after every shower of rain, describe it as a leak and say where it is coming in. Steamed-up windows and mould in the corners with no obvious source are usually a ventilation question, covered in our guide to damp and mould and your landlord's obligations.
How long does a landlord have to fix a leaking roof or pipe?
For most renters there is no fixed deadline. The repair has to happen within a reasonable time, and what counts as reasonable depends on how serious the leak is.
Council and housing association tenants in England are the exception. Since 27 October 2025, Awaab's Law has required a social landlord to make an emergency hazard safe, or offer you somewhere safe to stay, within 24 hours of becoming aware of it. It does not apply in Wales, and the government is consulting on extending it to private renters until 18 December 2026. Our guide to Awaab's Law timescales has the full list.
A burst pipe, water pouring in, or a leak near your electrics is an emergency, and a reasonable time to deal with an emergency is very short. A slow drip from a worn seal can fairly take a week or two, as long as your landlord stops it getting worse in the meantime. The duty to act starts when your landlord knows about the problem, so report every leak in writing and keep a copy. If the leak comes from a part of the building your landlord owns but has not let to you, like the roof or a flat above they also own, the duty can start the moment it happens, but report it anyway.
If water is getting near light fittings, sockets or the fuse box, treat it as an emergency. Switch off at the consumer unit if you can do so safely, keep away from anything wet, and report it straight away. If a private landlord or housing association will not act, the council can step in.
Can I claim compensation for belongings ruined by a leak?
Yes. If water from a leak your landlord should have fixed has destroyed your things, you can claim what they were worth, usually the cost of a like-for-like replacement reduced for age and wear. A sofa, a mattress, carpets, clothes, a laptop. These are called special damages, and you do not strictly need the original receipts, though photos help. Photograph ruined items before you throw anything out.
On top of that, you can claim for the disruption of living with the leak. No statute fixes the figure. Courts often measure it against the rent you paid while the problem lasted, more the worse it was and the longer it went on.
What to do if your landlord ignores a leak
Put your report in writing, set a fair date for it to be fixed, and start gathering evidence the day you notice the problem. Dated photos and short videos, your messages, and a note of when you first reported it.
If your landlord still does nothing, your council's environmental health team can inspect for free. Damp, cold or a risk of a ceiling coming down can be scored as a hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If it finds a category 1 hazard, the most serious level, it must take enforcement action, which can mean an improvement notice ordering the work. Where there is an imminent risk of serious harm, it can carry out emergency repairs itself and bill your landlord. If the council is your landlord, it cannot take enforcement action against itself. Use its complaints process, then the Housing Ombudsman, or in Wales the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. The full route is in how to report a landlord to the council.
If you rent privately in England, know one risk before you report. If the council makes a prohibition order that stops you living in your home, or using a room in it, Ground 6B gives your landlord a mandatory ground for possession on four months' notice. A collapsing ceiling or water in the electrics can lead to one. An improvement notice ordering the repair does not, so ask the council which it is considering.
Many renters worry about being evicted for complaining. If you rent privately in England, Section 21 ended on 1 May 2026, so asking for a leak to be fixed cannot get you a Section 21 notice. Housing association starter tenancies are not covered yet and can still be ended with one. In Wales a no-fault notice is still possible, usually with at least 6 months' warning, or 2 for some contracts such as supported accommodation, and a court can refuse possession if the landlord brought the claim to avoid doing repairs.
If the leak still has not been fixed, Remedy can help you put it in writing, keep your dated photos and messages in one record, and take it to environmental health or, for a council or housing association home, through the complaints process to the Ombudsman. Remedy does not assess disrepair compensation or bring claims, so for compensation advice you can contact a solicitor in our legal help directory directly.
Frequently asked questions
Repairing your ceiling and walls is your landlord's job unless you caused the leak. If your landlord also owns the flat above and the leak comes from a defect there, they can be liable for your belongings from the moment it happens. If your upstairs neighbour caused it, for example by overflowing a bath, your claim for belongings is against the neighbour.
The landlord's to repair, unless you caused it, for example by leaving the heating off in a freeze while you were away. For a pipe inside your home, your landlord is usually only liable for your ruined things if they knew about the problem and did not fix it in time, so contents insurance matters.
Usually not. There is no general right to withhold rent, and arrears put you at risk of a possession claim. There is a narrow repair-and-deduct route and a set-off defence, both easy to get wrong, and our guide on withholding rent for repairs explains them.
Treat it as an emergency. Keep out of the room, move what you can, and report it as an urgent repair, because a water-heavy ceiling can come down without much warning. If a private landlord does not act quickly, the council can make it safe, and a council or housing association landlord in England must do so within 24 hours.
