Asking your landlord for repairs, in a way that actually works
A maintenance request letter is the written notice a tenant gives a landlord that something in the property needs fixing. Most tenants send a text, get a vague answer, and are still waiting three months later with nothing to show for it. The letter matters because in almost every jurisdiction the landlord's repairing obligation is triggered by notice — until you have given it, and can prove you gave it, the clock has not started.
The goal is not to be adversarial. It is to be specific, dated and impossible to misremember.
What landlords are actually obliged to repair
The line falls in roughly the same place everywhere: the landlord is responsible for the structure, the installations and anything that makes the home fit to live in; the tenant is responsible for day-to-day upkeep and for damage they caused.
- England and Wales — section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 puts the structure and exterior, and the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation and heating, on the landlord. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 lets tenants take a landlord to court directly where the property is unfit, including for serious damp and mould.
- United States — nearly every state recognises an implied warranty of habitability covering heat, hot and cold water, working plumbing and electrics, and freedom from serious infestation. Remedies vary sharply: some states allow repair-and-deduct, some allow rent escrow, and a few allow neither without a court order.
- France — article 6 of the law of 6 July 1989 requires the landlord to provide decent housing and to carry out all repairs other than those listed as the tenant's by decree.
Write it so it cannot be argued with
- Describe the defect, not the inconvenience. "Water is coming through the ceiling of the back bedroom, approximately 40 cm across, wet to the touch" beats "there is a leak upstairs".
- Date the first occurrence and every contact since. This single line is what establishes how long the landlord has known.
- State the consequence — no heating in February, a child with asthma sleeping in a mouldy room, an electrical fault. Urgency is judged by effect, not by adjectives.
- Attach photographs with dates. Two or three are enough; a folder of forty is not read.
- Give a reasonable deadline and offer access. Landlords stall by claiming they could not get in. List the days and times you are available and remove the excuse.
- Say what you will do next if the deadline passes — contact environmental health, the local housing authority, or take legal advice. Say it once, calmly, at the end.
Urgency changes the route, not the letter
Where there is an immediate danger — no heat in freezing weather, a gas smell, exposed live wiring, sewage — call the emergency service first and write afterwards. For a suspected gas leak, contact the emergency gas number and leave the property. The letter then records what happened and when, which is what you will need later.
Do not stop paying rent
This is the mistake that undoes otherwise strong cases. Withholding rent because repairs have not been done is unlawful in most places and hands your landlord a straightforward arrears claim, which is far easier to win than your repairs claim. Where a remedy like repair-and-deduct or rent escrow exists, it comes with strict procedural conditions — written notice, a waiting period, receipts, sometimes a court application — and skipping any of them removes the protection.
If nothing happens
- Escalate in writing, referring to the first letter by date.
- Involve the regulator. In England, environmental health can inspect and serve an improvement notice. In the US, the local housing or code enforcement department plays the same role. In France, the commission départementale de conciliation is free and often unblocks matters before a judge is needed.
- Know that retaliation is restricted. Many jurisdictions limit a landlord's ability to evict shortly after a repair complaint, but the protection normally depends on the complaint having been made in writing — one more reason not to rely on text messages.
- Keep everything. Letters, photos, proof of posting, contractor visits, the dates nobody turned up. Repairs cases are won on chronology.