Boiler Breakdowns and Heating Failure: Landlord Duties and Timescales Explained

A landlord of a residential tenancy in England has a legal duty to keep heating and hot water installations "in repair and proper working order" under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 — this covers gas, electric, and off-grid systems alike. There is no fixed number of days written into the law for fixing a broken boiler; the standard is repair within a "reasonable time", judged against the severity of the fault, the time of year, and the tenant's circumstances. Councils separately assess "excess cold" as a housing hazard, using a benchmark of around 21°C in the main living room and 18°C in other habitable rooms at an external temperature of -1°C.

This is general information about the law of England, not legal advice on your specific situation — always check the current text on legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk guidance, or take independent advice, before acting.

Key takeaways

• Section 11 covers heating and hot water expressly. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies a covenant to keep in repair and proper working order the installations for space heating and heating water — this is a separate limb of the duty from water, gas, and electricity supply.
• There is no statutory fixed deadline for a routine repair. The legal standard is "reasonable time", not a set number of days — but total loss of heating or hot water in winter, or a vulnerable household, will always point towards urgent action.
• HHSRS "excess cold" is a hazard-assessment tool, not a temperature clause. Councils use it to decide whether to take enforcement action against a landlord; it does not itself create a right for a tenant to demand a specific temperature.
• Awaab's Law does not yet bind private landlords. Its fixed emergency and significant-hazard deadlines apply to social housing only; the government's own roadmap lists PRS extension as a future phase still subject to consultation.
• Only a Gas Safe registered engineer can legally touch a gas boiler. This applies to breakdown repairs as much as to the annual safety check.
• The duty applies to electric and off-grid heating too. A landlord cannot treat a broken electric storage heater or an oil-fired boiler as somehow outside section 11 — the wording is not limited to gas.
• Good record-keeping protects the landlord. A written trail of when the fault was reported, when access was offered, and when the repair was completed is the best evidence that a landlord acted within a reasonable time.

The legal duty: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11

Section 11(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies a repairing covenant into most residential tenancies of less than seven years, including assured shorthold tenancies. It has three limbs. Section 11(1)(a) covers the structure and exterior. Section 11(1)(b) covers installations for the supply of water, gas, and electricity, and for sanitation. Section 11(1)(c) — the limb that matters most here — requires the landlord "to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for space heating and heating water."

This wording draws a clear distinction from section 11(1)(b): heating is dealt with separately, and the duty is to keep the installation both in repair and in proper working order, which is a slightly broader standard than "repair" alone. A boiler that turns on but cannot maintain temperature, or a system that works intermittently, can still be in breach of the "proper working order" limb even if nothing is visibly broken.

Section 11 cannot be excluded by the tenancy agreement — any clause purporting to remove or reduce this duty is of no effect against the tenant. The landlord (or someone authorised in writing by the landlord) does, however, retain an implied right under section 11(6) to enter the property at reasonable times, on 24 hours' written notice, for the purpose of viewing its condition and state of repair — this covers inspecting the fault, not carrying out the repair itself. A right to enter specifically to carry out the repair works normally comes from an express term of the tenancy agreement, not from section 11(6).

What counts as "space heating" — gas, electric, and off-grid systems

The statutory wording refers to "installations… for space heating and heating water" without restricting this to gas central heating. This matters because a meaningful proportion of the private rented sector — particularly older or rural stock — relies on electric storage heaters, electric combi boilers, air- or ground-source heat pumps, or oil and LPG systems where there is no mains gas supply. All of these are "installations for space heating and heating water" in the ordinary sense of the words, so the same repairing obligation and the same "reasonable time" standard apply regardless of fuel type. A landlord cannot treat a broken storage heater as a lower priority simply because it is not a gas boiler.

How fast is "reasonable"? There is no fixed number of days

Unlike some specific statutory notice periods elsewhere in landlord and tenant law, section 11 does not prescribe a timescale for completing a repair. The obligation is to act within a reasonable time of becoming aware of the disrepair, and what is reasonable is assessed on the facts of each case — the nature and seriousness of the fault, the season, the availability of parts or a suitable engineer, and the vulnerability of the household (young children, elderly or disabled occupants, or someone with a relevant health condition).

In practice, this means a complete loss of heating and hot water reported in December calls for a materially faster response — arranging an emergency callout within days, not weeks — than a single radiator not heating properly in June. Landlords should not read "reasonable time" as licence to delay; it is a flexible standard applied by a court or tribunal after the fact, and a landlord who lets a winter heating failure drag on for weeks without good reason is exposed to a disrepair claim, a rent repayment argument, or a complaint to environmental health.

HHSRS and the "excess cold" hazard

Separately from the section 11 contractual duty, local councils assess rented housing conditions using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) under the Housing Act 2004. HHSRS scores a property against a list of potential hazards, one of which is "excess cold" — the risk to health from a home that cannot be affordably heated to a safe level. The government's HHSRS landlord and agent guide, published 23 June 2026, sets out a benchmark used in that assessment: broadly, a main living room heated to around 21°C and other habitable rooms to around 18°C, measured against an external temperature of -1°C.

Where a council inspects a property and finds a Category 1 hazard — the more serious tier — it has a statutory duty to take enforcement action, which can include an improvement notice specifying works and a compliance deadline, a prohibition order, or (in urgent cases) emergency remedial action carried out by the council itself and recharged to the landlord. A Category 2 hazard gives the council a discretionary power to act rather than a duty to do so. A persistently unrepaired boiler or heating system, especially combined with poor insulation or damp, is a classic trigger for an excess cold assessment.

Awaab's Law: a useful benchmark, not yet a private-sector deadline

Awaab's Law, introduced through the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, sets fixed timescales for social landlords to investigate and, where necessary, fix hazards in their properties. The first phase of these duties came into force for social housing landlords from 27 October 2025, and covers two things: all "emergency hazards" — those posing an imminent and significant risk of harm, which a reasonable landlord would act on within 24 hours — and, specifically, significant damp and mould hazards. A total loss of heating and hot water in freezing weather could, on the right facts, meet the general emergency-hazard test in Phase 1, but excess cold has not, until now, been a named hazard category with its own fixed timescale in the way damp and mould already is.

That changes on 30 November 2026, when Phase 2 of Awaab's Law comes into force for social landlords. Phase 2 extends the fixed investigate-and-repair timescales to further named significant hazards, including excess cold and excess heat, falls, structural collapse, fire and explosions, electrical hazards, and domestic hygiene. From that date, a social landlord facing a heating failure that amounts to a significant excess cold hazard will be bound by Awaab's Law timescales specifically for that hazard, not just the general emergency-hazard test that has applied since Phase 1.

None of this yet applies to private landlords. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a power for government to extend equivalent hazard-response duties to the private rented sector, but this has not happened. The government's own implementation roadmap for the Renters' Rights Act places the extension of Awaab's Law to the PRS in "Phase 3", describing the timescale as still to be confirmed and "subject to consultation". As of 26 August 2026, a private landlord is not bound by Awaab's Law deadlines, whether under Phase 1 or the incoming Phase 2. It remains a useful point of comparison for what "good practice" might eventually look like, but stating it as a current legal requirement for a private landlord would be inaccurate — the operative legal standard for a private tenancy today is still the section 11 "reasonable time" test described above.

Gas Safe engineers and who can touch the boiler

Any maintenance, safety check, or repair work on a gas boiler, gas fire, or other gas appliance in a rented property must be carried out by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register, under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. This applies just as much to an emergency breakdown repair as it does to the annual gas safety check. HSE guidance also confirms that if an engineer disconnects a gas appliance because it is found to be unsafe, the landlord must provide the tenant with emergency heating while proper repairs are arranged. The site's dedicated page on gas safety certificates covers the annual check, CP12 record-keeping, and penalties for non-compliance in more depth — this article does not repeat that detail.

What to do when a tenant reports a heating or boiler failure

• Log the report immediately, including the date, time, and exactly what the tenant described (no heating, no hot water, intermittent fault, smell of gas, and so on). A report suggesting a possible gas leak should be treated as an emergency and the tenant advised to follow National Grid's gas emergency procedure and ventilate the property.
• Arrange access promptly. Confirm a callout appointment with the tenant in writing and, where the tenancy agreement or a written access-request notice is used, keep a copy — this evidences that the landlord acted without delay.
• Book a suitably qualified engineer. A Gas Safe registered engineer for any gas appliance; a competent, appropriately insured engineer for electric or oil/LPG systems.
• Consider temporary heating for a total loss in cold weather. Portable heaters or a contribution towards the tenant's additional costs can help demonstrate reasonableness while the permanent repair is completed, and are effectively expected where an appliance has been disconnected as unsafe.
• Follow up and close the loop. Confirm with the tenant once the repair is complete, and keep the engineer's invoice or report on file alongside the gas safety record.
• Record everything. A simple repair log — report date, access offered, engineer attendance, completion date — is the single best protection if a dispute later arises about whether the landlord met the "reasonable time" standard.

Common landlord mistakes

• Assuming there is a fixed legal deadline (or none at all). Some landlords wrongly believe nothing is owed until a set number of days has passed; others assume Awaab's Law timescales already apply to them. Neither is correct — the standard is "reasonable time", assessed on the facts.
• Treating electric or oil heating as outside section 11. The repairing duty is not limited to gas central heating.
• Using an unqualified tradesperson for a gas fault to save time or cost — this is a criminal offence under the 1998 Regulations, regardless of urgency.
• Failing to offer temporary heating where a gas appliance has been disconnected as unsafe, leaving the tenant without any heat while a repair is arranged.
• Not keeping a written record of when the fault was reported and when access was offered, which weakens the landlord's position if the repair timeline is later challenged.
• Ignoring repeated or unresolved cold-related complaints, which is exactly the pattern that can lead a council to assess excess cold as a Category 1 hazard and take formal enforcement action.

Sources and further reading

This article draws on section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the government's HHSRS landlord and agent guide, the official implementation roadmap for the Renters' Rights Act 2025, the government's Awaab's Law Phase 2 guidance for social landlords, and HSE guidance on landlord gas safety duties — full citations are listed above. For the annual gas safety check and CP12 record-keeping in detail, see gas safety certificates. For the wider standard a rented property must meet, see the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 and the Housing Act 2004.

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Reviewed by Bradley Askew, Solicitor (non-practising), England & Wales. Reviewed 26 August 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific circumstances — for advice on your situation, take independent legal advice.