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What are communal areas and services?

Communal areas are those areas of a house or a block of flats or a street or an estate which tenants have a right to use in common with other tenants and for which a landlord is responsible. Examples of communal areas are:

Communal services are those that are provided in communal areas and which are provided for the benefit of more than one tenant. Examples of communal services are:

Responsibility for repairs to communal areas and services

Many tenancy agreements will set out which repairs a landlord is responsible for. These repairs are set out in the tenancy agreement are likely to include a number of repairs to communal areas or services.

In any case, the law imposes requirements on landlords to keep certain parts of properties and certain services in repair and proper working order.

These requirements mainly apply to keeping the structure and exterior of the property in repair and keeping certain installations, in particular those relating to heating, lighting and sanitation, in proper working order. In addition, councils should ensure that shared stairs, lifts, rubbish chutes and lighting to shared areas in blocks of flats are properly maintained. These requirements apply whether or not they are mentioned in the tenancy agreement.

You should be aware that, as a tenant, it is your responsibility to keep all entrances, passageways, communal halls and stairs clean and free from obstruction, and not to damage these areas.

What you should do if you notice that repairs are needed to communal areas or services

There are occasions where tenants identify that repairs are necessary to communal areas or services. You should make requests for these repairs to your local council as soon as possible. The council should carry out repairs for which it is responsible within a reasonable time.

If you are aware that damage is being deliberately caused by an individual or groups of individuals you should contact your local council.  The council will welcome such information, which could lead to those people being charged with the costs rather than the costs falling on the tenants.

The following links will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local authority website where you can find out more.

• Find out about repairs to communal areas of council properties Opens new window
• Request a repair to a communal area of a council property Opens new window