Repairs in a rented home: who fixes what, and how fast

The landlord must carry out repairs to the structure and the interior of your home and keep it to the minimum standards. That duty is in section 12 of the Residential Tenancies Act and in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. It does not depend on the lease, on how long you have lived there, or on whether the rent is up to date.

Your own duties are in section 16. You must not cause damage beyond normal wear and tear, you must tell the landlord about a defect once you know of it, and you must give access for the repair to be done. Everything that is not on that short list is the landlord's.

The Act gives no number of days for a repair. It says a reasonable time, and what is reasonable depends on what is broken. This guide sets out who fixes what, the planning figures this site uses for how fast, the one thing you must never do, and the route when nothing happens. The standards check turns your answers into the letter and the inspection request.

Who fixes what

Two things catch tenants. First, an appliance the landlord supplied is the landlord's to repair or replace, even if the lease calls it a gift or says it is "as seen". Second, "wear and tear" covers the ordinary ageing of a home that is lived in. A carpet worn thin after six years is wear and tear; a carpet burned by an iron is damage.

How fast: reasonable time

The Act does not say 24 hours, 7 days or 28 days. It says a reasonable time, and the RTB judges that against the nature of the fault and the season. A gas leak is not reasonable to leave for a day. A loose cupboard door can wait for the next visit.

This site uses three planning figures, which are ours and not the law's.

• 3 days for anything that is dangerous or makes the home unfit, such as a gas smell, exposed wiring, no water, a sewage leak or a door that will not lock.
• 7 days for heating and hot water, including a broken boiler, which is a minimum standard and in winter a health matter.
• 28 days for everything else, such as a faulty extractor, a broken appliance, a dripping tap or a window that does not close.

Put the figure in your letter as the date by which you expect the repair, so there is a date on the record. The RTB does not have to agree with the figure. What it will look at is whether you asked clearly, whether the landlord answered, and how long you lived with the fault.

The boiler, in particular

A broken boiler is the repair tenants search for most, and the law on it is clear. A fixed heating appliance in every room, capable of heating it, and a supply of hot water are both minimum standards under the 2019 Regulations. A home without them is below the standard the landlord must maintain, from the first day the boiler fails.

Ask for the repair in writing straight away and give a short date. If the landlord says the part is on order, ask for temporary heaters in the meantime; a landlord who provides them is meeting the duty in part. If nothing happens inside your date, go to the local authority on the same day. In cold weather an inspector will usually treat it as a priority.

What you may fix and reclaim

Section 12(1)(g) lets you recover the reasonable cost of a repair that was the landlord's to do, where you told the landlord and they did not act. The sequence matters. Tell them in writing, give a date, wait for the date, then get a quote and have the work done by a competent trader. Keep the receipt.

Then ask for the money in writing. If the landlord refuses, it is a claim at the RTB, not a deduction from the rent. Deducting it yourself without the landlord's written agreement leaves you short on rent, and the landlord could serve an arrears warning notice over it. The RTB can order repayment and the sum is usually straightforward to prove with the receipt.

Keep paying the rent

The Act does not allow rent to be withheld over a repair, however bad the fault and however long it has gone on. Withheld rent becomes arrears, and arrears are a ground for ending the tenancy after a 28-day warning notice. It would also weaken your own case, because the RTB looks at both parties' conduct.

Pay in full, on time, and put every request in writing. The record of what you asked for and when is what wins an RTB case, and a clean rent record is what makes the landlord's conduct the only question.

The route when nothing happens

Write first. A text is a record, but a dated letter or email that names the fault, the standard it breaches and the date you expect it fixed by is a better one. The letter builder drafts it in your words and nothing is stored.

If the date passes, ask your local authority's private rented inspection service to inspect. The inspector checks the home against the 2019 Regulations and can serve an improvement notice on the landlord, and then a prohibition notice if the work is not done. The local authority enforces the standards; the RTB does not. Rented housing inspections covers how to ask and what happens.

Then the RTB. A dispute application for a breach of the landlord's obligations can be made online. Mediation is free and private. Adjudication costs €30 and the hearing is public since 14 September 2026. The RTB can order the landlord to carry out the repair by a date. It can also award damages of up to €20,000 for the time you lived with the fault, though the typical award is far lower. How to make an RTB dispute application covers the form.

Ring Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, at any point. The advisers are free and they will tell you which step you are at.

Where this leaves you

The landlord fixes the structure, the installations and everything they supplied; you fix what you damaged and keep the home in day-to-day order. There is no legal number of days, so give one yourself in writing and use 3, 7 and 28 days as a guide. Never withhold rent; claim the cost of a repair you had to do instead. Write, then the local authority, then the RTB, in that order. The standards check gives you the letter and the inspection request, and the repairs journey takes the steps one at a time.