A plain-English guide to your legal roof repair obligations as a Chippenham landlord: Landlord & Tenant Act s.11, the Homes Act 2018, and where Awaab's Law stands for the private sector.
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📞 Call Now: 01249 247 076In short: As a Chippenham landlord you have a statutory duty to keep the roof and exterior in repair under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 s.11. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 lets tenants act where disrepair makes a home unfit. Awaab's Law applies to social landlords now; its private-sector extension is coming but not yet dated.
The foundation of every landlord's roof responsibility is section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It requires you to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling — and the roof is the most important part of that. This duty is implied into virtually every residential tenancy in Chippenham and cannot be contracted out of; a clause in your tenancy agreement trying to pass roof repairs to the tenant would simply be unenforceable.
In practice, section 11 means that when a tenant reports a roof leak, a slipped tile letting in water, or a failed flashing causing damp, the repair is your responsibility and the clock starts on dealing with it reasonably promptly. What counts as "prompt" depends on severity — active water ingress over a tenant's living space is urgent; a minor issue less so — but ignoring a reported roof defect is where landlords get into legal trouble. On Chippenham's older rental stock, particularly the Victorian terraces around Monkton Park and the ex-local-authority estates, roof disrepair is one of the most common triggers for tenant complaints.
The 2018 Act strengthened tenants' hands considerably. Before it, a tenant with a leaking roof causing damp largely had to rely on the council's environmental health team to force a landlord to act. The Homes Act lets the tenant take the landlord directly to court where disrepair makes the property unfit to live in — and a roof leak causing persistent damp and mould is a textbook example of unfitness.
For a Chippenham landlord, the practical effect is that a roof problem you have been slow to fix can become a court matter brought by the tenant themselves, with the court able to order the works and award compensation. The Act judges fitness across a range of factors, but damp and mould — so often roof-sourced — is one of the most cited. The lesson is simple: a reported roof leak is not something to leave on a to-do list. Fixing it fast is both cheaper and safer than the alternative.
Awaab's Law is the newest and most talked-about piece of the framework, and it is important to be accurate about where it currently applies. Named after Awaab Ishak, who died following prolonged exposure to mould in social housing, the law imposes strict statutory timescales on landlords to investigate and fix damp, mould and emergency hazards once a tenant reports them. It has applied to social landlords in England since 27 October 2025.
For the private rented sector — which covers most Chippenham landlords — Awaab's Law does not yet apply. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 contains the legal power to extend it to private landlords, but no commencement date has been confirmed; the extension sits in a later phase of the Act's implementation roadmap and is subject to a future government consultation on the detail and timescales. Commentators expect it will eventually mirror the social-housing model — fixed timeframes for investigating and remedying damp and mould — but that is not yet law for private lets.
The sensible position for a Chippenham landlord is to prepare now rather than wait. The direction of travel is unmistakable, and the existing duties under section 11 and the Homes Act already require prompt action on roof-sourced damp. A landlord who deals with roof leaks quickly and keeps proper records is already doing what Awaab's Law will formalise — and is protected under the law that already exists.
The common thread through section 11, the Homes Act and Awaab's Law is speed and evidence. Deal with reported roof defects promptly, and keep a documented trail showing you did. That is exactly what we help Chippenham landlords with: fast diagnosis and repair of roof leaks, same-day make-safe where water is actively getting in, and a written report with dated photographs for every job that goes straight into your compliance file.
Prevention is cheaper than any of it. A periodic roof check on your Chippenham rental — particularly before winter — catches the slipped tile or blocked valley before it becomes the damp-and-mould complaint that triggers a tenant's legal rights. For portfolio landlords we can check multiple properties in one visit. It is far less stressful, and far cheaper, than reacting to a disrepair claim. See our main landlord roof repairs page for how we work, or our guide to roof-sourced damp and mould.
Neither section 11 nor the Homes Act sets a rigid number of days for every repair — the standard is "within a reasonable time", judged against how serious the defect is. But it is worth understanding how the courts and the incoming Awaab's Law framework think about timescales, because it tells you what "reasonable" looks like in practice. Awaab's Law, already in force for social landlords, uses a model of fixed timeframes: investigate significant damp and mould within days, act on emergency hazards almost immediately, and complete works within set backstops. Although that regime does not yet bind private Chippenham landlords, it is a strong signal of the direction and a sensible benchmark to aim for.
The practical rule is that the more serious and the more health-threatening the roof defect, the faster you must move. Active water pouring into a tenant's living space is an emergency — make-safe should happen the same day, which is exactly why we prioritise landlord leak calls. A minor issue that is not causing damage can reasonably wait for a scheduled visit. The mistake landlords make is treating everything as low priority and letting a genuine hazard sit; that is where a tenant's legal remedies bite and where compensation gets awarded. Documenting when you were told and when you acted is your protection.
One practical wrinkle landlords hit is access: you are obliged to repair the roof, but you also generally have to give the tenant at least 24 hours' notice before entering, except in a genuine emergency. For external roof work this is usually straightforward — much of it happens from scaffold or ladders without needing to be inside — but where loft access or internal make-good is needed, it has to be arranged with the tenant. We handle this routinely: we can liaise directly with your Chippenham tenant to arrange a convenient time, keeping you or your agent copied in, so the repair happens without friction.
It is also worth knowing that you cannot use a tenant refusing reasonable access as an indefinite excuse for not repairing — you are expected to make genuine efforts. In practice, tenants want a leaking roof fixed as much as you do, so access is rarely the real obstacle. Where a tenant is difficult, our documented attempts to arrange access become part of the evidence trail showing you acted responsibly. The whole process — report, notice, access, repair, report filed — is one we run smoothly for landlords and agents across Chippenham every week.
Can I make the tenant responsible for roof repairs in the tenancy agreement? No. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies the roof-repairing obligation into the tenancy regardless of what the agreement says, and any clause attempting to shift it to the tenant is unenforceable. The tenant is responsible for using the property in a tenant-like manner — not blocking gutters with their own waste, reporting problems promptly — but the structural repair of the roof stays with you.
What if the tenant caused the damage? Genuine tenant-caused damage — as opposed to fair wear and tear or an inherent defect — can be a different matter, and may be recoverable. But be careful: a roof that failed through age and weather is your repair, not the tenant's, even if they were living there when it went. We document the cause of every defect we attend, which gives you a clear factual basis for that judgement rather than a guess.
How fast do I really have to act? As fast as the severity demands. Active ingress over living space is an emergency needing same-day make-safe; lesser issues can wait for a scheduled repair, but not indefinitely. The safest approach is to respond to every report promptly, get it assessed, and keep a record of when you were told and when you acted. That record is your best protection if a tenant later claims you were slow.
Do I need to prepare for Awaab's Law now? It is wise to. Although the private-sector extension has no confirmed date, the underlying expectation — fast, documented action on damp and mould — is already effectively required by section 11 and the Homes Act. A landlord who deals with roof-sourced damp quickly and keeps records is already compliant with what is coming.
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📞 01249 247 076Last updated: August 2026