Tenants cite lazy landlords as the main reason for repairs and maintenance not being done in their rental homes.

Housing satisfaction data in the English Housing Survey for 2022/23 reveals that just under two-thirds of tenters and owner occupier leaseholders were satisfied (63%) with the repairs and maintenance provided by their landlord or freeholder, while 10% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 28% were dissatisfied. Generally, households in non-decent homes were more likely to be unhappy with repairs and maintenance (31%) than households in decent homes (27%).

When asked why they were unhappy, a third (29%) of households said their landlord was slow to get things done while a quarter (26%) said the landlord did not bother, 20% mentioned ‘other’ reasons, 13% said their landlord did the bare minimum and 12% said the work done was of poor quality.

However, private renters were more likely to report being satisfied with the housing services provided (76%) than all other tenures.

Social renters (29%) were more likely to have considered making a complaint to their landlord or letting agent in the 12 months before the survey than private renters (25%), while private renters in non-decent homes were more likely to consider making a complaint (30%) than those in decent homes (22%).

Nearly half (47%) of private renters and 66% of social renters said they were not happy with the response to their complaint. However, a quarter of private renters said they were happy about ‘some’ of the response and a further 28% with ‘all’ of the response.

Private renters complained mostly about repairs (79%), the quality of their home (32%) and their landlord’s behaviour (8%), the latest figures show.