Housing repairs, standards and enforcement

We share our housing standards service with Peterborough City Council.

The housing standards team:

• address issues with disrepair and enforce standards in the private rented sector
• implement mandatory licencing of houses in multiple occupation
• inspect and review standards and conditions in mobile homes, camping and touring sites
• investigate illegal evictions, overcrowding and empty properties

To contact the team, email: housing.standards@peterborough.gov.uk 

Repairs to rented accommodation

Rented accommodation repairs can either be the responsibility of the landlord or the tenant and are usually set out in your tenancy agreement.

Generally, your landlord is responsible for:

• structural repairs
• repairs to essential supplies - for example water, gas and electricity
• repairs where there may be a health and safety risk

Tenants are usually responsible for:

• internal decorations
• upkeep of items you've installed yourself
• repairing damage caused by yourself, a member of your family or visitors

You should contact your landlord to ask them to carry out repairs. If your landlord refuses to do the repairs, email our housing enforcement team: housing.standards@peterborough.gov.uk.

Find out more about private renting on GOV.UK

Repairs to owner occupied accommodation

If you own your own property, you are responsible for maintaining and improving your home.

View information on how to make your home more energy efficient

Enforcement

If you're a landlord, you have a legal responsibility to maintain your property and make sure it's let in a good state of repair.

The property must be free from all serious health and safety hazards.

If you fail in this duty, we will inspect the property using the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and where necessary, we will enforce you to address the hazard(s) to an acceptable level.

We have a statutory duty to take action to remove category 1 hazards identified under the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and conditions that cause a statutory nuisance in homes.

We also have discretionary powers to:

• resolve unsatisfactory conditions in homes
• reduce the impact of long term empty properties

Informal action can include:

• offering advice
• a verbal warning and requests for action
• written correspondence

Formal action can include actions under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004:

• serve an improvement notice under Section 11
• serve a suspended improvement notice under Section 14
• make a prohibition order under section 20
• formal caution
• prosecution

We reserve the right (in appropriate circumstances) to recover our reasonable costs to take the most appropriate course of action, as allowed under Sections 49 and 50 of the Housing Act 2004.

Damp and Mould

The housing standards service has a full suite of enforcement and regulatory sanctions to ensure no rented property escapes the requirement to have and maintain appropriate standards, including with regard to damp and mould growth. 

Read the letter from the Chief Executive to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities outlining the action plan for tackling damp and mould in rented properties.