Landlord Products / Services
Yup, I’m a landlord. But I’m under no illusion; I know we have a bad reputation, a real bad reputation, and much of the bad press is wholly justified. Unfortunately, it’s a tough shit-stain to wipe away while so many rogue landlords continue to operate and run wild (and “ruin it for the rest of us”).
So what do tenants do when they’re dealing with rogue landlords that aren’t complying with health and safety laws? Who do they turn to? Here’s my advice…
Over the years I’ve encountered many shady landlords do the most bizarre shit, either because they’re too lazy to do a proper job, or because they want to cut corners to save money. Of course, the reality is, operating like that is short-sighted, because it’s generally a false economy. But that’s a ramble for another day.
From my experience, most of the neglect is related to health and safety issues e.g. bypassing the Annual Gas Safety check, or failing to provide tenants with hot water and/or heat for an unreasonable amount of time.
I think one of the major contributing factors to why and how landlords get away with neglecting their landlord legal obligations is ignorance. I talk to tenants on a daily basis, and it’s clear most of them are oblivious of their rights, and consequently have no idea if they’re being mistreated in the eyes of the law. That unfortunately works in the favour of the rogue landlord. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
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Landlord Health and Safety Responsibilities
As per the “Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018”, Landlords in England have a legal obligation to ensure their rentals properties are “fit for human habitation”, which essentially means the following issues should be addressed:
- repair (i.e. the building shouldn’t be neglected or in bad condition),
- stability (i.e. the building shouldn’t be unstable),
- freedom from damp,
- internal arrangement (i.e. the property shouldn’t have an unsafe layout),
- natural lighting (i.e. there should be enough natural light),
- ventilation (i.e. there should be enough ventilation),
- water supply (i.e. there should be a supply of hot and cold water),
- drainage and sanitary conveniences,
- facilities for preparation and cooking of food and for the disposal of waste water;
- and the house shall be regarded as unfit for human habitation if, and only if, it is so far defective in one or more of those matters that it is not reasonably suitable for occupation in that condition.
Most health and safety issues will fall under one of those points. All the most common one’s do anyways, that’s for sure. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act has given tenants the power to sue landlords through the courts if they fail to comply.
I’ve written a blog post on the ‘Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018’, which goes into much more detail. It’s written from a landlord’s perspective for landlords, but it’s definitely useful from a tenant’s perspective as well, because it will make clear what landlords should be doing to comply with the legislation and what the potential penalties if failing to comply.
While this blog post is specifically about healthy & safety concerns, I do want to mention that Landlords also have a bunch of other legal obligations (e.g. they must manage your deposit properly, provide you with an EPC etc.), which you can peruse through to better educate yourself on your rights (if you want to, that is).
How to Report or Take Action Against a Landlord for Health and Safety Breaches
If you’re fully aware that your landlord is breaking health and safety laws, or you have a very strong suspicion he/she is, you should do the following:
1) Report the Issue to Your Landlord
I know, I know, you’ve probably already made your landlord (or letting agent) aware of the issues, but it’s gone unattended and unresolved for what feels like an unreasonable amount of time, hence why you’re here, trying to determine your next steps.
However, while that is probably the case, I just want to clarify how important it is to properly report any matters of health and safety and disrepair to your landlord. If you can’t prove that you have reported your concerns to your landlord properly and given them a fair opportunity to resolve your concerns, you may struggle to build a case for yourself and make headway anytime soon.
When reporting an issue, I recommend doing the following:
- Report issues with written notice e.g. letters (send via recorded delivery), text messages, emails etc.
- Document/log all communication so you have proof
- Clearly explain what the issue(s) is.
It’s also important to give your landlord reasonable time to attend to your concerns. Rarely does anything get fixed overnight. The reality is, some tenants are unrealistic in these matters, by expecting things to get resolved the next day. Whatever your situation is, it’s important to be open-minded and fair.
I’m not going to specify what is or isn’t unreasonable – at least, not in great depth – because it depends on each specific scenario. But as a real ‘loose’ and generic example, I will say that going without hot water for over a month is totally unreasonable in most cases. On the other hand, dealing with a small leak, perhaps that’s not as urgent, so it wouldn’t be totally unreasonable if it gets resolved after one month. Of course, needless to say, every problem should get resolved ASAP in an ideal scenario.
Use your own discretion and common sense to weigh up your situation.
In any case, if after having communicated efficiently, your lousy landlord is unresponsive (when a landlord goes quiet, I’d say that’s the biggest sign that they don’t plan on being useful) or seems completely uninterested in dealing with your complaints, and consequently too much time has passed without any real progress, then…
2) Contact Your Local Citizens Advice Bureau
Before reporting your landlord, you may want to get legal advice first.
I recommend contacting your local Citizens Advice Bureau for free legal advice. They should be able to make you fully aware of your rights and clarify whether you have a case or not.
3) Reporting Gas Safety Issues
If you believe your landlord is neglecting their responsibility for gas safety, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the place to visit. There is an option to report a landlord online either via the website or via email. Alternatively, a designated team member will call you back within 1 hour (tested, and it works).
Bear in mind, HSE will only deal with the current problems.
Once your complaint is lodged, and assuming it’s legitimate and meets the HSE guidelines, they should take immediate action by writing a letter to your landlord. If they receive no response from the landlord, they will send a second.
If your landlord fails to respond and take reasonable actions to resolve the problem, court proceedings may commence by the HSE.
4) Reporting General Health and Safety Concerns
If you have a health and safety concern which isn’t gas related (for example, if you have a mould manifestation that your landlord won’t address), you should contact your local council and lodge a formal complaint. Each council will have a different procedure, so it’s best to contact your council directly or go to their website and determine the best course of action to proceed with your complaint.
Once you have lodged a complaint with the council, they should assess the situation and act accordingly.
5) Suing Your Landlord for Health and Safety Breaches
You can actually bypass contacting your local council or the HSE altogether and go straight to court by suing your landlord through the small claims court (for example, if the property is not “fit for human habitation”). It is a relatively straightforward process in many cases, and claims can often be made online (see the link above for more details).
Alternatively, you can go through your local council or the HSE first and wait for their findings. In many cases, landlords quickly take action once they are contacted by an official body.
However, if your landlord continues to ignore the issues, the council or HSE may decide to take enforcement action themselves.
If no enforcement action is taken and you still believe you have a strong case, you can proceed independently and take legal action against your landlord through the courts.
Do Not Let Your Landlord Get Away With It
If you are a tenant dealing with a rogue landlord who is not complying with their health and safety obligations, or failing to carry out necessary repairs, you should seriously consider reporting them. Do not put up with it if they are being completely unreasonable. Well, only if you can be bothered, that is.
But bear in mind: if you let your landlord get away with it now, they are likely to continue doing so.
Also, just to give you some reassurance: with the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act on 1 May 2026, the practice of “revenge evictions” has been significantly curtailed. This is one of the fears that has historically prevented tenants from asserting their rights.
I have already written a separate post explaining how the days of revenge evictions are over in more detail, but in short, landlords in England cannot lawfully end a tenancy unless they have a legally recognised ground for possession under Section 8. Importantly, raising concerns about health and safety is not one of those grounds.
If you’re currently going through this shit, I’m with you, and I wish you the best of luck with your pursuit for justice!
Landlord out xo
Disclaimer: I'm just a landlord blogger; I'm 100% not qualified to give legal or financial advice. I'm a doofus. Any information I share is my unqualified opinion, and should never be construed as professional legal or financial advice. You should definitely get advice from a qualified professional for any legal or financial matters. For more information, please read my full disclaimer.
PLEASE HELP! I really just need your advise. My landlord JUST fired the last maintenace man after about 3 years knowing he was using drugs and stealing money from her only to hire a new scumbag maintenance man. The new maintenance man came in my apartment while i was not home and drank my 3 year old sons liquid pain medication and filled it back up God knows what. I knew because I had caught him in my apartment the day before without me being home and without my consent to "fix my toilet paper holder"! He admitted 3 times on the phone to me that " YES LESLIE MY FINGERPRINTS ARE ON THE BOTTLE BUT UNLESS THE COPS ARE GOING TO TEST FOR SALIVA GOOD LUCK PROVING I DRANK IT" Here is the even crazier part... my landlord did not fire him. I have lived there quietly and happily for almost 4 years. Anytime the landlord had a flood in the laundry room or someone there to see an apartment and the maintenance man was too high to do anything she would call me and I was right there to help her and this is how she helps me when i need it. What should I do besides going to the cops because I did that already. The jerks took a halfass report that had more mistakes in it than facts and are taking their time to come process the bottle if they ever even do come. Im actually going to the Camden County Prosecutors office to deal with them but i was hoping you may give me some insight in how to deal with my landlord.
Thanks,
Leslie C