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 leak that comes from the building is your landlord's problem to fix, not yours, and the law is clear about it. This guide covers which leaks your landlord must repair, how fast they have to act, and what you can claim back if water has ruined 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. Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord must keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair, and that expressly includes the roof, the walls, the gutters, the drains and the 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.
The line falls on the other side only where the leak is your own doing.
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?
This distinction is where a lot of claims are won or lost. A leak and condensation are treated differently.
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 your problem is genuine water ingress, 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 the water is coming in. If the issue is steamed-up windows and mould in the corners with no obvious source, that is usually a damp and ventilation question, and there is a separate route for it in our guide to damp and mould and your landlord's obligations.
How quickly does a landlord have to fix a leak?
There is no single deadline. The repair has to happen within a reasonable time, and what counts as reasonable depends on how serious the leak is.
A burst pipe, water pouring in, or a leak running anywhere near your electrics should be dealt with within hours, the same day at the latest. 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. With a leak coming from the roof or a flat your landlord also owns above you, they can be on the hook from the moment it happens, but a written report still protects you.
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 your landlord will not act, your council can step in. Water and electricity together is a real danger, not something to wait out.
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 the cost of replacing them. 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. Keep the ruined items if you can, and photograph them before you throw anything out.
On top of that, you can claim for the disruption of living with the leak. Courts usually work this out as a slice of your rent for the time the problem lasted, from around 10 to 20 percent of the rent for a minor nuisance up to well over half for a home you can barely use. Our guide to how much you can claim for disrepair walks through the figures.
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 and cold caused by a leak can be a serious hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, and where it is, the council has a legal duty to act. They can order the work done, and for an urgent danger they can carry out emergency repairs themselves and bill your landlord. The full route is in how to report a landlord to the council, and the wider process is in how to handle a disrepair case.
One worry holds a lot of renters back, and it should not. Since 1 May 2026 there is no more no-fault eviction, so asking for a leak to be fixed cannot get you a Section 21 notice.
If your landlord has left a leak unfixed, Remedy can check where you stand, work out what you are owed, and draft the letter that gets repairs taken seriously. You can start a free assessment at remedylegal.ai.
