Landlord and tenant responsibilities
Under the tenancy agreement, both the tenant and the Housing Executive or housing association have different responsibilities for doing repairs in the property.
External works
The tenant is responsible for:
- care and upkeep of gardens and hedges
- cleaning gully trap
The landlord is responsible for:
- repairs to garden paths, walls, fences and gates where installed by the landlord
- the replacement of wheelie bins every seven years if replacement is necessary
- replacement of rotary clothes driers
- maintenance of communal amenity areas, unless the local council is responsible
- outside repair work involving structural repairs to walls, outside doors, windows (but not replacement of glass), roofs, chimneys, valleys, gutters, downpipes and house drains (excluding cleaning of gullies)
- external paintwork
Internal decoration
The tenant is responsible for keeping the interior of their home in reasonable decorative order.
Electrical repairs
The landlord is responsible for:
- electrical wiring
- repairing electrical appliances, fires and heaters where fitted by the landlord
- door entry systems to communal blocks
- ceiling roses, lamp holders and flexes
- socket outlets and switches
The tenant is responsible for:
- repairing electrical appliances, fires and heaters not installed by the landlord
- door bells (where not installed by the Housing Executive or housing association) and plug tops on appliances
- re-setting trips and replacement of fuses, except main service fuses which are the responsibility of Northern Ireland Electricity
Cooking and heating appliances
The landlord is responsible for NIHE-installed:
- repairs to defective solid fuel cookers and stoves
- solid fuel room heaters
- fire hearth and surrounds
- annual service of heating appliances where installed by NIHE
Plumbing
The landlord is responsible for:
- clearing blocked sewers, drains and external waste pipes but not road gullies or waste pipes blocked by tenant misuse
- boilers and hot water cylinders
- pipe work, radiators, fittings and valves
The tenant is responsible for:
- stoppers and chains for baths, sinks and basins
- replacement of wash basins, toilet bowls and toilet seats (except where damaged or discoloured through wear and tear or by faulty installation)
- replacement of baths, sinks and drainers (except where damaged or discoloured through wear and tear or by faulty installation)
Doors and windows
The landlord is responsible for:
- window frames, sashes and window furniture
- repair of defective internal and external doors, saddles and door frames
- hinges, locks, handles, trapper bars and letter boxes on external doors
The tenant is responsible for:
- hinges, locks and handles to internal doors
- kitchen and bedroom unit doors, door hinges, handles and catches on drawers
- draught proofing of doors and windows
- replacement of broken glass
Structural and other repairs
The landlord is responsible for:
- walls, staircases and all structural timbers, roof, chimney and rainwater goods
- wall and floor tiling
- architraves, skirting boards, timber sills and other internal decorative woodwork
- airbricks and ventilators
- roofspace insulation (where the tenant has not been receiving grant aid)
- timber rot
The tenant is responsible for:
- sweeping chimneys and the cost of any work required because of the failure to sweep chimneys
- internal plaster cracks on walls and ceilings