When an AI Complaint Quotes the Wrong Law

In short

Check four things for every claim: the words, England, the date, and whether it’s law or guidance.
The most common problems are invented deadlines, remedies described as automatic, law from Wales or social housing, and bills that never became law.
A claim can be wrong about the law and right about the problem. Answer both.
Say what you checked. Never just say the tenant is wrong.

On this page

The four checks
Seven claims, checked
How to put the right law in your reply
How Casebriar runs these checks

The four checks

For each legal claim, find the provision on legislation.gov.uk and ask:

Does it say that? Read the actual words. Most errors are in the detail: a time limit, an amount, the word “automatically”.
Does it apply in England? Housing law differs across the UK. Acts of the Senedd, such as the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, can show their extent as England and Wales while only applying in Wales.
Was it in force on the date? Use the version for the date the events happened. Much of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 applies to private tenancies from 1 May 2026.
Is it law? Government guidance, ombudsman codes and a bill that never passed can all sound like law. Only legislation creates the obligation.

Then record the result. Casebriar uses four labels for this, and they work just as well on paper:

Verified the legislation says what’s claimed;
Partial it supports part of the claim, not all of it;
Needs evidence the law is clear, but the answer depends on what your records show;
Not established nothing in what you checked supports it. That isn’t the same as the tenant being wrong; it means you shouldn’t repeat the claim as fact.

Seven claims, checked

These are representative of claims AI tools produce. The wording is illustrative, not taken from anyone’s real complaint. The label in each card is what a careful check finds.

1. A 24-hour deadline for heating repairs

Not established

“By law you have to carry out emergency repairs like a total loss of heating within 24 hours, and you’re in breach for anything longer.”

Law relied on: The landlord’s repairing duty: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11.
What it says: The landlord must keep in repair and proper working order the installations for space heating and heating water. It sets no number of hours or days.
What to check: Your tenancy agreement and repairs policy may set target times of your own. Check those too, and say so if you missed them.
Evidence: When the fault was reported, when a contractor attended, parts ordered, and when heating was restored.
How to reply: Accept the duty. Judge whether the time taken was reasonable on the facts, and don’t adopt the 24-hour figure as law. Social landlords now do have a 24-hour duty for emergency hazards under Awaab’s Law (see claim 2), which may be where the figure came from.

2. Awaab’s Law in a private tenancy

Social housing only

“Under Awaab’s Law you were required to investigate the mould within 10 working days and make the property safe within 5 days after that.”

Law relied on: The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025.
What it says: Set timescales for social landlords to investigate and fix hazards such as damp and mould, in force from 27 October 2025. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 allows the rules to be extended to private lets, but as at September 2026 that hasn’t happened.
What applies instead: The fitness for human habitation duty in Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 9A (section 10 lists freedom from damp among the things that decide fitness), and the repairing duty in section 11. The council can also act under the housing health and safety rating system.
Evidence: Every report of the damp, inspections, what was done and when, and any survey of the cause.
How to reply: Don’t quote Awaab’s Law timescales back as if they apply. Do treat the damp seriously: say when it will be inspected and what happens next.

3. A bill that never became law

Not law

“Under the Renters’ Reform Bill you are no longer allowed to increase my rent without my agreement.”

Law relied on: The Renters (Reform) Bill 2023–24.
What happened to it: It fell when Parliament was dissolved for the 2024 general election, and never became law. Its replacement is the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
What to check: Whether the Act that did pass has a similar rule, and whether it was in force on the date. For rent, the rules are in section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 as amended.
How to reply: Explain briefly that the bill didn’t become law, then set out the rule that does apply, and whether you followed it.

4. Three times the deposit, automatically

Partial

“My deposit was never protected, so I am entitled to a penalty of three times the deposit automatically.”

Law relied on: Housing Act 2004, section 213 and section 214.
What it says: A deposit must be protected, and the prescribed information given, within 30 days of receiving it. If not, a court must order the landlord to pay between one and three times the deposit, but only on the tenant’s application to the court. It isn’t automatic, and the amount is for the court.
Evidence: The date you received the deposit, the scheme’s protection certificate, the prescribed information, and proof you gave it to the tenant.
How to reply: Set out the dates from your records. If the rules were met, say so with the scheme reference. If they weren’t, take advice before replying: it also affects possession.

5. Six months’ notice and a tribunal’s approval for rent increases

Not established

“Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 all rent increases now require six months’ notice and must be approved by a tribunal in advance.”

Law relied on: Housing Act 1988, section 13, as amended by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 from 1 May 2026.
What it says: For private assured tenancies from 1 May 2026, rent can be increased once a year, using the prescribed notice, with at least two months’ notice. The tenant can ask the First-tier Tribunal to decide the rent. The tribunal doesn’t approve increases in advance.
Check the date: An increase served before 1 May 2026 is judged under the rules as they were then.
Evidence: The notice itself, the date and method of service, the previous increase, and the tenancy agreement.
How to reply: Say which rules apply, when and how the notice was served, and that the tenant can apply to the tribunal if they think the new rent is above market rent.

6. Welsh law for a home in England

Doesn’t apply in England

“Under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 you were required to give me a written statement of my contract within 14 days.”

Law relied on: Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
What it says: It’s an Act of the Senedd and governs rented homes in Wales. It doesn’t apply to a home in England, even though legislation.gov.uk can show its extent as England and Wales.
What applies instead: In England, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 requires written terms for new tenancies from 1 May 2026, and landlords had to give existing tenants the government’s information sheet by 31 May 2026.
How to reply: Explain that the Welsh rules don’t apply, then answer the underlying point under the English rules: was the tenant given what they should have been?

7. A fixed sum for every year without a gas safety check

Partial

“Failing to provide a gas safety certificate is a criminal offence and I am entitled to compensation of £5,000 per year of non-compliance.”

Law relied on: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36.
What it says: Landlords must have gas appliances and flues safety-checked at least every 12 months, keep the record, and give it to existing tenants within 28 days of the check and to new tenants before they move in. Breaches can be prosecuted. Nothing in the regulation gives a tenant a fixed sum for each year.
Evidence: Every gas safety record for the tenancy, and proof each was given to the tenant.
How to reply: Take the safety point first: confirm the current record and send it. Then deal with any gap in the records honestly, and consider compensation on the facts.

How to put the right law in your reply

Correct the law without making the tenant wrong. The pattern that works: name the provision, say what it does say, then answer the underlying problem.

“You mentioned a 24-hour deadline for heating repairs. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires the landlord to keep the heating in repair, but it doesn’t set a fixed time. We accept that seventeen days was too long, and we’re sorry.”

“You mentioned Awaab’s Law. Those rules currently apply to social housing rather than private lets. We do take the damp seriously: a surveyor will inspect on [date], and we’ll write to you with the findings by [date].”

Don’t say “AI got this wrong”, don’t quote the whole Act back, and don’t let the correction be the whole reply. The tenant cares about the boiler, not the section number.

How Casebriar runs these checks

Casebriar does the four checks automatically for the provisions it covers. For each legal claim it fetches the provision from legislation.gov.uk and confirms the quoted words are really there, that the provision applies in England, and that it was in force on the date of the events. Guidance can’t be presented as a legal duty. A separate check catches a real provision being stretched to mean more than it says, which is where the “partial” results come from.

It covers the topics most tenant complaints raise: repairs and fitness for habitation, housing hazards, deposits, fees, rent increases, gas, electrical and alarm safety, harassment and eviction, access, landlord details and notices, and the Renters’ Rights Act. When a claim falls outside those, it says it couldn’t verify it rather than guessing. It never marks a tenant as wrong, and it leaves every decision to you.

Sources

Legislation links go to legislation.gov.uk. Check the version in force for the dates in your complaint before relying on it. This page is general information about the law in England, not legal advice about a particular case.

When an AI complaint quotes the wrong law: a letting agent’s verification guide