UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am the landlord of a house which I have been renting out for two and a half years to the same tenant. They are responsible for garden maintenance. They have notified me that there is a damp patch on the inside of the outside wall which appears to get worse in wet weather. I have asked them to check the guttering. If the gutters are blocked and therefore causing the problem, is it the tenant's responsibility to clean them out. Does this come under the umbrella of garden maintenance? Also if this lack of maintenance was to cause damage to the guttering, would that then be the tenant's responsibility?

No, this is the Landlord's responsibility.

Be wary of advice from a forum (especially my own)
Do you own research

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 specifically requires the landlord "to keep in repair ,...gutters"
So the landlord must maintain the integrity of the gutter, so if broken/leaking landlord to repair.

If the gutter is blocked (not broken) then to your tenancy agreement you must look.. It might say the tenant is responsible for keeping the gutters free and clear of debris etc.  If it doesn't then it's a subjective call and the landlord will 99% have to clear the gutters as the tenant is not specifically obliged to do so and will point out the clause in the LTA 1985 and interpret "in repair" as to mean unblocked.

This  is how grey the area can be.....
The tenancy agreement probably does not mention that you are responsible for replacing lightbulbs.
Nevertheless, tenant is responsible for behaving in a "tenant -like manner" which may include replacing lightbulbs, clearing gutters, sweeping paths etc etc. Everything that an owner occupier would do, apart from actual repairs.
On the flip side the state of the guttering wasn't mentioned on the inventory either..(?) so did the blockage occur due to build up prior to the tenancy?

IMHO if it isn't mentioned explicitly in the agreement then Landlord.

Best of luck

Thank you for your advice. The guttering was new when the tenant moved in 2 & 1/2 years ago. As the tenant is maintaining the garden I thought maybe the guttering should be kept free of leaves etc by the tenant too. The government guidelines are a little vague stating that the gutters must be kept in a good state of repair by the landlord. I wouldn't expect the tenant to repair broken guttering but there again if they neglected to clean them I would have thought that could also cause damage in time, which they could be therefore be responsible for. It seems debatable. Many thanks for your help

Ah, a Teflon Landlord... a bit slippery, nothing will stick. It seems debatable = I ain't paying, no matter what advice I receive.

Not really sure why gutters == garden.  How did you conclude that?
Is it because they are both outside 

I do hope you are making sure they are cleaning the moss off the roof tiles too