What are your rights over the kitchen in a student house?
The kitchen in a student house has more legal protection around it than most students realise. If your shared house counts as a house in multiple occupation (HMO), and most student houses do, the landlord has enforceable duties to keep the kitchen safe, maintained and adequate for the number of people using it. If the sink leaks, the wiring's dodgy or five of you are sharing two hob rings, the law is mostly on your side.
Most student shares meet the HMO test in section 254 of the Housing Act 2004: at least 3 people from 2 or more households living there as their main home and sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Housemates who aren't family count as separate households, so a typical student house of 4 or 5 friends is an HMO, and one with 5 or more occupants needs a mandatory licence from the council.
Who has to fix a broken kitchen?
Your landlord, for almost everything that matters. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires the landlord to keep in repair and proper working order the installations for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation, which expressly includes basins and sinks. A kitchen sink that won't drain, a broken boiler feeding the hot tap, faulty sockets or a leaking supply pipe all fall under this duty, and no tenancy clause can pass them to you (s.12 makes such clauses void).
The duty starts once the landlord knows about the problem, so report kitchen faults in writing (a group email or house WhatsApp message followed by an email works) and keep copies. The landlord then has a reasonable time to fix it; what's reasonable depends on how serious the fault is.
Appliances are the grey area. Fixed installations are the landlord's job, but there's no general statutory duty on landlords to repair freestanding appliances like a kettle or toaster you brought yourselves. Where the landlord supplied the fridge, cooker or washing machine, check your tenancy agreement, because many agreements accept responsibility for landlord-supplied white goods, and the property still has to remain fit for human habitation overall (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, s.9A).
What standards apply in an HMO kitchen?
Beyond repairs, HMO managers have specific day-to-day duties under the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, which apply to every HMO whether licensed or not. The manager must maintain the water supply and drainage (reg 5), keep the electrical installation safe with an inspection at least every 5 years and an annual gas safety check (reg 6), maintain the common parts, which include a shared kitchen, in good and clean decorative repair (reg 7), and provide enough bins for the household's rubbish (reg 9). Breaching these duties is an offence.
When a council licenses an HMO, it also assesses whether the property is suitable for the number of occupants, including whether the kitchen facilities are adequate. Councils publish their own amenity standards, typically covering how many sets of cooking facilities, sinks and worktops are needed per number of sharers. If nine of you are queueing for one oven, your council's HMO team will want to know.
Fire safety in the kitchen sits under the same 2006 Regulations (reg 4), and cooking areas are where most house fires start. Blocked escape routes, missing fire doors or a dead smoke alarm in an HMO are worth reporting straight away.
When is a bad kitchen a health hazard?
When it goes beyond wear and tear into something that could harm you. Councils assess rented homes using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004, and where they find a serious (category 1) hazard they must take enforcement action, usually an improvement notice requiring the landlord to do works. Damp and mould around the kitchen, dangerous electrics, no hot water and pest infestations from broken drainage can all score as hazards.
Premises in a state prejudicial to health can also be a statutory nuisance under section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The council must serve an abatement notice where it's satisfied one exists, and tenants can bring their own proceedings in the magistrates' court under section 82 after giving the landlord 21 days' written notice. Our guide to contacting environmental health explains how to trigger an inspection.
What should you do when the landlord ignores kitchen problems?
Work through it in order, and keep evidence at every step:
- Report in writing with photos and a date. Vague verbal mentions to a letting agent get lost.
- Chase once, in writing, giving a sensible deadline for the repair.
- Contact the council's private sector housing or environmental health team if nothing happens. Mention if the house has 5 or more sharers, because an unlicensed HMO of that size is an offence carrying an unlimited fine, and councils can impose civil penalties of up to £40,000 as an alternative.
- Consider a rent repayment order if the HMO should have been licensed and isn't. Tenants can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for up to 2 years' rent back, a window the Renters' Rights Act 2025 extended from 12 months.
Don't withhold rent, however tempting. Arrears create a possession ground against you and weaken an otherwise strong hand.
Does the Renters' Rights Act 2025 change anything for student houses?
Yes, in ways that help sharers. Since 1 May 2026 student tenancies in the private sector are periodic rather than fixed term, and tenants can leave with 2 months' notice, which changes the old dynamic of being locked into a 12-month contract for a house you saw once in November. Rent rises are limited to one a year via a Section 13 notice with 2 months' warning, and you can challenge the figure at the First-tier Tribunal. The Act also plans a Decent Homes Standard for private rentals, with the detailed standard still to be set.
A shared kitchen is where a student house works or fails. Photograph it on moving-in day, report faults in writing, and use the council when you're ignored: HMO enforcement exists precisely for properties like yours.
Related: Student Renting Guide: Deposits, HMOs and Your Rights