Reasonable steps defence for landlords: what it covers
A lapsed certificate is not automatically a £40,000 fine. What decides the outcome is whether you can show reasonable steps, and most landlords have never read what that phrase requires.
Last reviewed 22 July 2026 · England
Landlords in England have started hearing the phrase reasonable steps defence since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force, usually with no explanation of what it actually covers. A council weighing a genuine case needs evidence to weigh. Give it none, and there is nothing for the defence to work with.
What the Act changed
The Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026. It removed Section 21 “no fault” evictions and gave councils stronger enforcement powers, including civil penalties of up to £40,000 for electrical safety breaches. Alongside that enforcement power, the Act built in a defence: a landlord who can show reasonable steps towards compliance is treated differently to one who made no effort at all.
That defence sits inside the same framework as the EICR rules and every other certificate a landlord in England holds. The certificate you owe stays the same. What changes is how a council or tribunal reads the story behind it.
What reasonable steps actually means
A council reads the record behind the certificate: the date you last checked it, whether you booked a renewal before anyone else noticed it had lapsed, and whether that booking happened before a complaint or inspection landed on your desk.
A landlord who booked a gas inspection three weeks before the old certificate expired, then had the engineer delayed by a fortnight, has a reasonable steps case. A landlord who discovers the same gap only when a council letter lands has nothing to show but the gap itself.
What it does not cover
A reasonable steps defence will not retroactively fix an expired certificate, and it cannot stand in for the certificate itself. A landlord with no record of when anything was last checked has nothing to point to, whatever the phrase promises.
| Scenario | Your position |
|---|---|
| Certificate in date, next renewal already booked | Nothing to defend |
| Certificate lapsed, renewal booked before any complaint or inspection | Documented effort, a real reasonable steps case |
| Certificate lapsed, nothing booked until a council letter arrives | Weak: no evidence of any attempt to comply |
| No record of when any certificate was last checked | Weakest: nothing to show a council or a tribunal |
How councils weigh it
Enforcement usually starts with a complaint or a routine inspection, not a spot check of every rental property in England. Once a council is looking at a property, it asks for evidence: dates, certificates, correspondence with contractors. What it finds decides whether the response is a request for information, an improvement notice, or a civil penalty.
A landlord with dates and bookings on record gives a council something to weigh in their favour. A landlord with a folder they have not opened in two years gives it nothing.
What to do now
- Check the actual dates on every certificate you hold, not when you think each one was last renewed.
- Book renewals ahead of the expiry date, not after someone else notices the gap.
- Keep a record of when you checked and what you did. CertSorted logs every check, booking and upload against each certificate, alongside the compliance checklist covered in the full record for 2026, so the evidence exists before you ever need it.