Can I stop paying the rent if the landlord does not fix the faults?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

No. If you stop paying the rent because the landlord does not carry out repairs, you risk eviction for non-payment, even if you are right about the fault. What the law allows you to do is carry out urgent repairs yourself and charge them to the landlord. In tenancy agreements signed or renewed since 8 October 2026, if the landlord does not reply within fifteen days to your written request with a quote, you can carry out the repair and deduct what it costs from the following rent payments. Only if the works make the home uninhabitable can you suspend the tenancy and stop paying while they last. Why it is unwise to stop paying A single month without paying may be enough for the landlord to seek eviction. The courts do not usually accept that the tenant can stop paying on his or her own initiative because a repair has not been done, even if the leaks or the damp are proven. If you stop paying, you may end up losing your home over a problem that the law allows you to resolve in another way. What you can do Notify the landlord in writing, with photos, so that there is a record of the fault and of the date. If the repair is urgent to prevent imminent damage or serious inconvenience, carry it out yourself after notifying the landlord and immediately claim back what you have paid. In tenancy agreements signed or renewed since 8 October 2026, ask the landlord in writing for the repair, enclosing a reasonable quote. If the landlord does not reply within fifteen calendar days or refuses without good reason, you can carry it out and deduct its cost from the following rent payments, with the invoices. This means deducting the cost of the repair, not stopping payment. In a temporary residential tenancy, the time limit is five working days and the deduction is made from the following month's rent. If the repair works last more than twenty days, ask for a reduction in the rent in proportion to the part of the home you cannot use. If the repair works, or works ordered by the authorities, make the home uninhabitable, suspend the tenancy, without paying rent while they last, or terminate it without compensating the landlord. Ask the court to order the landlord to carry out the repairs or to terminate the contract, with compensation for the damage. Before suing, the law requires an attempt at negotiation. If your agreement is older In agreements signed before 8 October 2026, even if they have been extended since, it is not clear that the fifteen-day time limit can be used to deduct the repair from the rent. Take advice before deducting anything. In any event, keep the correspondence, the photos, the quotes and the invoices.