Corrective Maintenance
Synonyms: Reactive Maintenance، Breakdown Maintenance، Repair Maintenance
Last updated: 2026-09-25
Short Definition
Corrective maintenance is repair work carried out after a fault or defect appears in a property or one of its systems, to restore it to a usable condition, such as fixing a pipe leak, replacing a failed AC compressor or dealing with a fault in the electrical panel.
Overview
Legal Basis
The main reference is the Civil Transactions Law (Royal Decree M/191 dated 29/11/1444H): Article 419 (the landlord's duty to make necessary repairs, the tenant's remedies if the landlord delays after notice, and the parties' freedom to agree otherwise), Article 421 (termination or rent reduction where use is impaired through no fault of the tenant), Article 430 (the tenant's liability for damage caused by misuse or negligence) and Article 434 (the tenant may not prevent necessary repairs if given reasonable prior notice). The REGA-supervised Ejar platform applies the distinction between basic maintenance (landlord) and consumable maintenance (tenant).
Practical Example
A tenant renting a flat in Jeddah for SAR 42,000 a year notifies the owner by a dated written message that the master bedroom AC stopped working in July. The owner's technician finds the compressor has failed from age, not misuse, so it is a defect in the unit for the landlord to fix; replacement costs SAR 2,800. Had the owner delayed after this notice, the tenant — since a summer AC failure is urgent — could have had it repaired at the customary cost and deducted the amount from the next rent payment, handing the invoice to the owner. Had the fault been caused by the tenant breaking the control unit or by neglect, the tenant would have borne the cost.
Common Mistakes
- ✗Repairing without recording the cause — the cause decides who pays: an inherent defect falls on the landlord, misuse or negligence on the tenant.
- ✗A tenant deducting the cost of a major, non-urgent repair from rent without notifying the landlord or obtaining court permission — the law limits this to urgent or customarily minor repairs.
- ✗A landlord ignoring written reports, which opens the door for the tenant to seek termination, a rent reduction or a repair at the landlord's expense.
- ✗A tenant refusing the landlord access for necessary repairs despite reasonable prior notice.
- ✗Repeating the same repair without analysing the root cause or moving to preventive maintenance.
International Differences
The split of repair responsibility is broadly similar across legal systems: the landlord handles structural and major repairs, the tenant minor upkeep and damage from misuse. In Turkey the Code of Obligations places ordinary cleaning and upkeep costs on the tenant and major repairs on the landlord, and in the UAE leases and local tenancy laws generally put major repairs on the landlord unless agreed otherwise. The Saudi specificity is that the law expressly lets the tenant carry out urgent or minor repairs and deduct the cost from rent after notifying the landlord, while allowing the parties to contract out of this.
