Designed primarily to help tenants, this order may also be useful for getting landlords to deal with common repairs. It can only be served by your local council.
When used
This order is used only with private landlords. The focus of the order is on the tenant’s living condition rather than other owners’ concerns about a landlord not paying their share of common repairs. But, some councils interpret this quite widely.
The repairing standard can include common property repairs but landlords may try and argue they are prevented from carrying out such works due to other owners.
Holiday and AirBnB type lets are now also covered by the Repairing Standard.
Criteria
The criteria relevant to common repairs are:
- the house is wind and water tight and in all other respects fit for human habitation
- the structure and exterior of the house (including drains, gutters, and external pipes) are in reasonable repair and proper working order
- where the house forms part of premises (e.g. a flat), the repairing standard can be used against any part of the premises that the owner is responsible for maintaining, solely or communally, as long as the tenant is entitled to use this part of the building
“In all other respects” can be interpreted widely – it could include stairs that have become so dangerously worn that they are a hazard to tenants as well as other users.
An update was made to the Repairing Standard in March 2023, enforced from 1st March 2024, and included important parts concerning common areas of buildings:
- where a private rented house is a flat in a tenement, the tenant must be able to safely access and use any common parts of the tenement, such as common closes
- common doors must be secure and fitted with satisfactory locks
- locks must allow users to open them from the inside without a key so that they do not inhibit exit in the event of a fire
- a private rented house which is a flat in a tenement does not fail the Repairing Standard if work otherwise needed to comply with the standard cannot be carried out because a majority of owners in the tenement have refused consent to carry out the work
Find out more about this update and the changes made.
Additionally, as part of these updates, private landlords must ensure that their property or properties have a satisfactory and adequate supply of drinking water. This supply must also comply with water quality regulations and have no more than 10 micrograms of lead per litre of water. Find out more about lead in water testing.
The use of this order can have serious implications for landlords in that it can prevent them from renting out their flat.
Enforcing the repairing standard
Councils have powers to refer offending landlords to the First Tier Tribunal (Housing Chamber) where the tenant will not do so or where neighbours are affected. If the Tribunal makes a Repairing Standards Enforcement Order, a notification will be put on property’s title deed by the Registers of Scotland. Failure to comply with the repairing standard is also a criminal offence.
- Contact your council
- First Tier Tribunal
- More about private landlords
- Scottish Government Repairing Standard
