Adding a clause to lease on repairs

Tenant Discussion
1

My lease is up for renewal and I was wondering if we can negotiate a clause to be added to the lease that would force the landlord’s agent to make repairs promptly.

The landlord likes us and the market is down locally, so would have thought we have some leverage to negotiate something. The landlord lives abroad and there is an agent (a self employed individual) who also manages several other flats in the building (for different landlords).

Currently we need to chase the agent many times to get anything fixed.

I was thinking of writing a timeline to the contract, e.g. saying the repairs should be done within 2 weeks (where reasonable), and perhaps that there should be a reduction in rent if they are not done.

Any advice?

3

You could, but it may not change anything. The landlord already has repairing obligations by law so having this in a contract doesn’t really add to that obligation. If its a cosmetic issue or something outside the scope of S11 Housing Act 1985, then you might be able to put a few specific issues in the contract, but it would have to be carefully worded and the landlord may not agree. Worth a try though.