Does my landlord have to fix a broken boiler?
Yes. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord must keep in repair and proper working order the installations for space heating and heating water, along with the installations for water, gas, electricity and sanitation. That duty is implied into almost every private and social tenancy in England and Wales, because sections 13 and 14 of the same Act apply it to any tenancy of a dwelling granted for less than seven years.
Your landlord can't contract out of this. Section 12 makes any clause that tries to exclude or limit the section 11 obligations void, unless a county court has approved it with both parties' consent, which in practice almost never happens. So a tenancy agreement that says the boiler is your problem doesn't change the legal position.
There's a second layer of protection too. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 inserted section 9A into the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which implies a promise that your home is fit for human habitation when the tenancy starts and stays that way throughout. Fitness is judged on the matters in section 10, which include freedom from damp and, in England, prescribed hazards under the Housing Act 2004. A home you can't heat in winter may well fall short of that standard, though each case turns on its facts.
How long can a landlord take to repair the heating?
For most private tenancies there's no fixed statutory number of days. The repairing duty arises within a reasonable time of the landlord having notice of the defect, which is why reporting the fault in writing matters so much. What counts as reasonable depends on the problem: courts have generally expected urgent faults, and a dead boiler in winter is about as urgent as it gets, to be dealt with much faster than cosmetic issues. Three months without heating, as in the case this article's title quotes, is very unlikely to be reasonable.
Social housing tenants in England now have fixed deadlines. Awaab's Law came into force for social landlords on 27 October 2025, implemented through the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025. In its first phase, emergency hazards must be made safe within 24 hours, and significant damp and mould hazards must be investigated within 10 working days, with a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation ending and safety works within 5 working days of it concluding. A second phase is due on 30 November 2026 and is planned to extend fixed timescales to further hazards including excess cold, which is the category a long-term heating failure usually falls into. If a social home can't be made safe in time, the landlord may have to offer suitable alternative accommodation at its own expense.
Private tenants don't have those fixed deadlines yet. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 allows Awaab's Law-style requirements to be extended to private landlords, and the government has said it will consult before doing so, but no private-sector start date had been set at the time of writing.
Is a cold home a health hazard in law?
It can be. Council environmental health teams assess homes under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System in Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004, and excess cold is one of the 29 hazard profiles they score. If an inspection finds a category 1 hazard, the council must take enforcement action, which can include an improvement notice compelling the landlord to carry out works within a set period. For less serious category 2 hazards the council has a discretionary power to act.
Public health guidance backs this up. UKHSA treats 18°C as the practical minimum indoor temperature for English homes in winter, with warmer temperatures recommended for older people and anyone with health conditions. A home that can't reach that for months on end is exactly the sort of situation environmental health exists to deal with.
There's also the statutory nuisance route. Under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a person aggrieved by premises in such a state as to be prejudicial to health can complain directly to the magistrates' court, after giving the landlord at least 21 days' written notice. The court can order works, fine the landlord and order your reasonably incurred expenses to be paid. A home so cold it harms health can amount to a statutory nuisance, though you'd want advice before starting court proceedings yourself.
Can I just stop paying rent until it's fixed?
No, and this catches a lot of tenants out. You have no legal right to withhold rent because of disrepair. Unpaid rent builds up as arrears, and serious arrears are a possession ground, so withholding rent can hand your landlord a route to evict you even though the original fault was theirs. Since 1 May 2026 the mandatory arrears ground requires at least three months' arrears, but discretionary arrears grounds exist below that threshold, so it's still a real risk.
A narrow repair-and-deduct route exists at common law, where you pay for the works yourself and deduct the cost from future rent, but it needs proper written notice, quotes and care, and it carries risk if done badly. Get advice before trying it.
What compensation can I claim for months without heating?
Compensation for poor conditions is usually pursued as a county court housing conditions claim for breach of the landlord's repairing covenant under section 11, or the fitness covenant under section 9A. The court can order the landlord to do the repairs and award compensation, which is commonly assessed as a proportion of the rent for the period the problem lasted. The worse the conditions and the longer they went on, the higher that proportion tends to be, though outcomes always depend on the evidence you can show.
That's why records win these cases. Keep every report you sent, every reply, photos of the boiler and any error codes, thermometer readings, and receipts for anything the situation forced you to buy, such as electric heaters or higher electricity bills.
What should I do if my heating has failed?
Report the fault to your landlord or agent in writing straight away, and keep a copy. The repair clock only starts once the landlord has notice. Then:
- Chase in writing if nothing happens within a few days, restating the dates and the effect on your household.
- Contact your council's environmental health team if the landlord still doesn't act. They can inspect under the Housing Act 2004 and serve an improvement notice where a serious hazard exists.
- Check gas safety while you're at it. Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, your landlord must have every gas appliance and flue they supply checked annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and give you a copy of the record within 28 days of the check, or before you move in if you're a new tenant.
- Consider a court claim for the repairs and compensation if the failure drags on, ideally with advice from Shelter, Citizens Advice or a housing solicitor.
Our guide to heating and hot water problems covers the reporting steps in more detail, and the wider repairs overview explains who's responsible for what.
Nobody should spend a winter, let alone three months, without heating. The law is firmly on your side here; the practical challenge is usually evidence and persistence rather than the legal position itself.