Skip to main content

Fitness for Human Habitation Act

This is the improved Camden website. Find out what's new.

Fitness for Human Habitation Act

Sustaining your private tenancy

With this new legislation, tenants have the power to take action against their landlord in the courts for breach of contract, where they fail to adequately maintain their property, without the involvement of your local authority.

Read the new UK government's guide Fitness for Human Habitation Act for more information on your rights and obligations.

Sustaining your private tenancy

You must make every effort to keep your home reasonably clean and tidy, free of hazards and allowing enough ventilation to prevent damp and similar issues.

Landlord’s Repair responsibilities

Landlords must ensure that the property is fit for human habitation at the beginning of the tenancy and throughout.

Please contact your landlord as soon as possible if you notice a fault in your property, giving reasonable period to rectify the unfitness in any of the following:

  • electrical wiring
  • gas pipes and boilers
  • heating and hot water
  • chimneys and ventilation
  • sinks, baths, toilets, pipes and drains
  • common areas including entrance halls and stairways
  • the structure and exterior of the building, including walls, stairs and bannisters, roof, external doors and windows.

Further information about landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities