What the law actually requires of a Salisbury landlord on the roof — section 11, fitness for habitation, and where Awaab’s Law stands for private lets.
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📞 Call Now: 0172 223 9611A Salisbury landlord is responsible for the roof under section 11 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, must keep the property fit under the 2018 Act, and should investigate damp promptly. Awaab’s Law binds social housing from Oct 2025 but has no confirmed private-sector start date.
Section 11 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 is the foundation of a landlord’s roof responsibility. On almost every residential tenancy granted for less than seven years, it implies a covenant — a legally binding promise — that the landlord will keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling. Roofs, gutters and external pipes are named explicitly.
The landlord is obliged to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes).
— Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, s.11
Two points catch landlords out. First, you cannot contract out of section 11 — a clause trying to make the tenant responsible for roof repairs is void. Second, the duty is to keep in repair, which the courts read as putting right disrepair that arises during the tenancy, not just maintaining a roof that was fine at the start. Once you know, or ought reasonably to have known, about a defect, you must repair within a reasonable time.
The 2018 Act sharpened landlords’ obligations. It amended the 1985 Act to require a rented home to be fit for human habitation at the start of, and throughout, the tenancy — and gave tenants a direct route to court, without needing the council to act first.
Fitness is assessed against the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards, and damp and mould is one of the most significant. A roof defect that lets water in — a failed valley, a leaking chimney flashing, gutters so blocked they soak a wall — can render a property unfit, exposing the landlord to a claim for repairs and compensation. A roof leak is therefore never just maintenance; it can be a legal matter.
Awaab’s Law — named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died following prolonged exposure to mould in a social home — sets strict, legally-binding timescales for social landlords to investigate and fix damp, mould and emergency hazards. It came into force for social housing on 27 October 2025.
For private landlords, Awaab’s Law does not yet apply. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 contains the power to extend it to the private rented sector, but that is subject to consultation and further regulations, and no commencement date has been confirmed. The Act’s first phase, including the abolition of Section 21, took effect on 1 May 2026, but the Awaab’s Law extension sits in a later phase.
The sensible reading for a Salisbury landlord: the strict timescales aren’t binding on you yet, but the direction is unmistakable. A landlord who already investigates damp promptly and fixes genuine roof defects quickly is meeting today’s duties and is ready for whatever the extension eventually requires.
Legal duties are only as good as the systems behind them. In practice, meeting your obligations on a Salisbury rental roof comes down to a few habits:
None of this is onerous, and a local roofer who understands landlord obligations can carry most of it — surveying promptly, documenting clearly, and turning a repair instruction into a closed-out, evidenced job.
The consequences of leaving a roof defect have grown sharper. A tenant can bring a disrepair claim under section 11, seeking an order that the work be done plus damages for the period they lived with the problem — and those damages are typically calculated as a proportion of the rent for the time the property was in disrepair. Where a home has been left unfit, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 adds a direct route to court for the tenant.
On top of that, the wider Renters’ Rights Act 2025 regime has strengthened tenants’ hands and the local-authority enforcement toolkit. Rent repayment orders, improvement notices and civil penalties are all in the picture for landlords who let obligations slide. Set against a few hundred pounds for a prompt repair, the economics of ignoring a leak make no sense — the cheap option is always to fix it fast and keep the record.
Salisbury’s rental market runs across two very different roof types, and your obligation bites differently on each. The Victorian and Edwardian terraces off Fisherton, Milford and Castle Road — heavily let to students and professionals — fail at the lead and the chimney first, where a small flashing defect quickly becomes a fitness issue. The post-war estate housing in Bemerton Heath, Bishopdown and Harnham is now at the age where concrete-tile nail sickness sets in across whole slopes.
Knowing which failure your property is prone to lets you get ahead of it — and a roofer who works Salisbury’s stock every week can tell you, at a single survey, whether you’re looking at a quick repair or a roof heading towards the end of its life. Either way, acting on that knowledge is how you stay the right side of your duty.
Meeting your roof obligations doesn’t have to mean managing every detail yourself. The right local roofer effectively carries the compliance weight for you: responding fast to a tenant report, surveying and diagnosing within days, making safe the same day where water is coming in, and carrying out a permanent, documented repair — then handing you the dated photos and itemised invoice that prove you acted.
For Salisbury landlords and agents we go a step further with a priority-response arrangement: your calls jump the queue, we hold your portfolio details, and we can run periodic roof checks across your properties so defects are caught on a schedule rather than in a crisis. That turns a legal duty from a worry into a managed, routine part of running the portfolio — and keeps the evidence trail complete without you having to think about it. If you’d like that in place before the next winter, a single call gets it started.
On residential tenancies under seven years, yes — section 11 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 makes the landlord responsible for the structure and exterior, including the roof, and you cannot pass that to the tenant.
Within a reasonable time of knowing about it. There’s no fixed number for private lets, but a persistent leak causing damp should be investigated within days and made safe promptly.
Not yet. It applies to social housing from 27 October 2025. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 allows extension to the private rented sector, but that has no confirmed commencement date and is subject to consultation.
Yes. Since the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, a tenant can bring a claim directly if the property is unfit — and a roof leak causing serious damp or mould can make it unfit.
Dated photos before and after, the roofer’s written report, and itemised invoices — evidence that you investigated and repaired promptly.
Prompt, documented roof repairs across your Salisbury portfolio — free survey, itemised invoices, no call-out fee.
0172 223 9611