No Hot Water in a Rented Home: Your Rights and Timescales

Who has to fix it

For almost every tenancy in England, the law puts the repair on the landlord. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 says the landlord must keep in repair and proper working order the installations for supplying water, gas and electricity, for sanitation, and for space heating and heating water. That covers the boiler, the hot water cylinder, the immersion heater, the pipes, the radiators and, in most cases, a fixed electric shower. A clause in the tenancy agreement cannot move that duty onto you. This page covers England. Wales and Scotland set the same basic duty through their own laws, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 and the Repairing Standard in Scotland, with different procedures.

The main exception is damage you or your guests caused, or something you installed yourself. If you broke the shower valve, the landlord can recharge you. Appliances the landlord did not supply, such as your own electric heater, are yours to sort out.

The landlord also has a separate duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to have every gas appliance they supply checked once a year by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and to give you a copy of the gas safety record within 28 days of the check. If your boiler has broken and you have never seen a gas safety record, ask for it in the same message.

How long does a landlord have to fix no hot water?

For private tenants, the law says a reasonable time rather than a number of hours. What counts as reasonable depends on how serious the problem is, the time of year and who lives there. Shelter’s guidance is that a broken boiler reported in winter could reasonably need fixing within 24 hours, and advisers treat a total loss of heating or hot water as urgent, especially with children, older people or someone ill in the home. A partial problem, such as hot water that works but runs lukewarm, gives the landlord longer, often a few days.

Reasonable time starts when the landlord, or their agent, knows about the problem. That is why reporting it properly matters more than anything else on this page.

Social housing tenants have firmer timescales. Since 27 October 2025, Awaab’s Law has required social landlords in England to investigate emergency hazards and make the home safe within 24 hours of becoming aware of them. Council tenants can also use the Right to Repair scheme for smaller urgent repairs, which sets deadlines of 1, 3 or 7 working days depending on the problem, with compensation of £10 plus £2 a day, up to £50, if a second contractor also misses the deadline.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 gives the government power to extend Awaab’s Law to private renting, but no start date for private tenancies had been set when this guide was written. Until it is, the reasonable time test applies.

If you smell gas, do not wait for the landlord. Open windows, turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely, do not use switches, then leave the property and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. They make the supply safe for free, then the landlord arranges the repair.

How to report it so the clock starts

You can tell your landlord by phone, but always follow it up in writing, by email or through the agent’s repair portal, so there is a dated record.

• Say exactly what is wrong: no hot water at all, heating and hot water both off, or lukewarm only.
• Include anything the boiler display shows, such as a fault code or flashing light, and the pressure gauge reading.
• Say who lives there if it makes the problem more urgent: a baby, someone over 65, someone ill or disabled.
• Say when an engineer can get in, and offer a key arrangement if you work.
• Ask for a temporary heater or for the immersion heater to be used while you wait, if there is one.
• Keep copies of every message and reply, with dates, and photos of the display or any leak.

What you should and should not do while you wait

You can do the basic safe checks that any householder would: check the boiler pressure, press the reset once, check the fuse spur and programmer, and switch on an immersion heater if you have one. If the heating has a thermostat or programmer you control, check it has not been turned down. Our guide to why you might have no hot water takes you through these in order.

Do not open the boiler casing or let a friend or handyman work on it. Gas work in a rented home must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and unapproved work can put you in breach of your tenancy as well as being dangerous.

Do not call your own plumber and deduct the bill from the rent without advice first. In limited cases a tenant can recover repair costs from rent after giving written notice and getting quotes, but withholding rent carries a real risk of arrears and possession action. Speak to Shelter or Citizens Advice before you try it.

You can ask your landlord to cover the extra running cost of temporary electric heaters or an immersion heater if the repair drags on.

If your landlord does not fix it

Send a second message in writing, saying when you first reported it and asking for a date for the repair. Many delays end there.

If nothing happens, contact your council’s private sector housing or environmental health team. They can inspect under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, where excess cold and lack of hot water for personal hygiene are recognised hazards, and serve an improvement notice on the landlord.

Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, your home must be fit to live in throughout the tenancy, and you can take the landlord to court yourself if it is not. A disrepair claim in the county court can also bring compensation, but it needs evidence and follows a pre-action protocol, so get advice first.

The fear of eviction for complaining has changed. Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, private landlords could not serve new section 21 no-fault notices from 1 May 2026, so a landlord can no longer end a tenancy just because you reported a repair. They still need one of the legal grounds for possession.

If you are the landlord

The fastest way to stay on the right side of the reasonable time test is to get an engineer out the same day for a total loss of hot water or heating, and keep a note of when you were told and what you did. If you cannot get a part quickly, give the tenant temporary heating and, where there is one, the use of the immersion heater, and say so in writing.

Our landlord emergency plumbing service works directly with tenants on access and reports back to you, and the no hot water repair visit covers combis, cylinders and immersion heaters. The visit is the £60 call-out at any hour, and the repair price is agreed on site before any work starts. More on your wider duties is in our guide to landlord plumbing emergency responsibilities.