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Newspage RawSource: Tony Sanchez, Bridging Loan Directory

What would help private landlords meet tighter repair deadlines?

ended 12. October 2026

The government is consulting on extending Awaab’s Law to private rented homes in England, introducing enforceable timescales for investigating and making serious hazards safe.

Options include a 24-hour emergency deadline, alongside shorter and longer alternatives. The requirements and implementation date have not been finalised.

Questions asked of landlords, letting agents, surveyors, contractors and property finance specialists:

  • In a recent urgent repair, what needed fixing, how much did it cost and how quickly was the property made safe?
  • What helped—or delayed—the response: available funds, finding a suitable contractor, identifying the problem or gaining access?
  • Would tighter deadlines change how you budget for maintenance or assess a property before buying it?
  • Examples where repairs were handled promptly are just as welcome as cases involving difficulties. Please distinguish temporary measures that made the home safe from subsequent permanent work.
  • Include the property type, location, cost and outcome where possible.

Government consultation

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Tony SanchezVerified
Founder at Bridging Loan Directory
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A landlord can own a valuable property and still lack ready cash for an urgent repair. For tenants, what matters is how quickly their home is made safe.

“At Bridging Loan Directory, we’re examining what actually delays that response: money, contractor availability, access or identifying the underlying problem. Each calls for a different solution. Access to finance alone cannot guarantee a repair gets done.

The distinction between making a home safe and completing permanent remedial work also matters when discussing costs and deadlines. I’d like to see the consultation produce workable requirements that protect tenants, informed by examples of prompt repairs as well as failures.

For property investors, the question starts before purchase: does the budget leave enough money to deal with a serious problem once the property is occupied?”
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Michelle LawsonVerified
Director at Lawson Financial
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What we need to really start to focus on here is that Awaab's Law has been implemented due to the disgraceful condition of his social housing property. Often the main problem here is the unreliability of trades and also some tenants can be obstructive for access, as well as making sure they can fund works. Funding can be hard with all the other financial red tape and burden but that shouldn't be an excuse- setting aside monies for maintenance and tax is basic good practice. On top of this, there are tenants who expect work to be carried out immediately but landlords are at the behest of the availability of the appropriate person. Many landlords keep well maintained properties- why wouldn't they if they want to maximise on their rental income and provide a decent property to let? The people it needs to catch are those that are more unscrupulous and fly under the radar.
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Harvey DhillonVerified
Founder & CEO at Zmartly
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Tighter repair deadlines should change both how landlords budget and how they judge a property before buying. Money saved for future repairs gets no tax relief while it waits, because a repair only counts once the work is paid for or owed. For an individual landlord, the tax saving then usually comes through a Self Assessment bill due on 31 January after the tax year ends. A legal deadline to make a dangerous home safe is overdue for private tenants in England, but it would mean landlords finding the whole bill at short notice, typically long before any relief arrives. Tighter deadlines would make checks before buying matter more, so ask whether the price is much lower because the property is run-down. If it is, or the home isn't fit to let, the cost of putting it into good order counts as part of buying it and can't be set against the rent. Repairs the last owner put off, on a home that could still be let, are normally deductible. Price that difference into your offer.
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Harry GoodliffeVerified
Director at HTG Mortgages
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Most landlords don’t miss repair deadlines because they don’t care; they miss them because they can’t get a tradesperson through the door. As a landlord myself, the hard bit of an urgent repair has never been the money or the willingness; it’s finding someone decent who can come today rather than a week on Wednesday, and then actually getting access when the tenant is at work. A 24-hour deadline is fine for making a hazard safe, boarding something up or isolating a boiler, but it’s not realistic for the permanent fix, and the law needs to separate the two clearly. Would it change how I assess a property? Yes, I’d be far pickier about older properties with old heating and a history of damp, because the risk of a fine would sit with me from day one. The Government is right to want tenants safe. It just needs to remember that a deadline isn’t always the landlord’s fault.
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Will MallardVerified
Director at Oxfordshire Living Developments
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In our property businesses, the biggest determinant of whether an urgent repair is resolved quickly is rarely willingness to spend the money. It is whether the landlord already has the contractor network, access arrangements, cash reserve and reporting system in place.
Across HMOs and single-let properties in Barrow-in-Furness, we have found that reactive maintenance becomes expensive very quickly when the first visit is spent diagnosing the issue, the right trade is unavailable, access cannot be arranged, or parts then have to be sourced separately.
Tighter statutory deadlines would therefore change the economics of ownership. Landlords will need larger maintenance contingencies, better records and more disciplined inspections, and should increasingly assess the condition and remaining life of roofs, heating, electrics, bathrooms and other major components before purchase.
The cheapest repair is often the one identified before it becomes an emergency. Planned and packaged maintenance.