Free Guide - Housing Disrepairs

About this guide

If you rent your home from a private or social housing landlord, including a local authority or housing association, they have a responsibility to maintain adequate living conditions and deal with any disrepairs you report to them promptly.
Yet we frequently hear from people at their wit’s end with substandard living conditions in their homes due to neglect.
According to housing charity Shelter, in 2019 more than 280,000 people were living in homes in England with category-one hazards (the most severe type). This will only have worsened during the cost of living crisis – when many people could no longer afford to adequately heat their homes.
If you’ve reported repairs to your landlord and they haven’t done anything, you can make a complaint.
This free guide lays out the process of complaining about your landlord’s failure to address disrepairs. We explain what issues are your landlords responsibility, what details you should include in the complaint and who you should send it to.

What are your landlord’s responsibilities?

Before you make a complaint about disrepairs, you should be absolutely sure that your landlord is responsible for doing the work.
Aside from what is laid out in your tenancy agreement or tenant’s handbook, there are things that every landlord is responsible for:

The structure and exterior – including the walls, roof, foundations, external windows and doors, drains, guttering and external pipes.
Baths, sinks, toilets and their pipework.
Water and gas pipes.
Gas fires, fitted electric fires or fitted heaters.
Electrical wiring.
Water tanks, boilers, radiators.

If your tenancy began on or after 15 January 1989, some common areas of your building such a the hallways or stairway.
As well as being your landlord’s responsibility to repair, they cannot pass the costs of repair work on these aspects of your home to you.

What are your landlord’s responsibilities?

As well as maintaining these specific aspects of your home, your landlord has to ensure your home is fit for human habitation. Things that might make your home unfit for human habitation include:

Damp or mould
Poor insulation or ventilation resulting in extreme heat or cold
Pest infestations
Too many occupants
Not having a safe water supply
Unsafe gas and electrics
Asbestos

Whether the problem was there at the start of the tenancy or appeared later, they must resolve these issues.

What are your landlord’s responsibilities?

There is only one caveat: if you have in some way caused the problem by not looking after your home properly the landlord may not be considered responsible. Unfortunately, many landlords will use this loophole to try and shirk their responsibilities by shifting the blame onto tenants.

A couple of additional responsibilities include:

Reasonable adjustments
If you’re disabled, your landlord has a duty to make reasonable adjustments for you when requested. The only limit on this is anything that would involve the removal or significant alteration of physical features.

HMOs
If you live in a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) – like shared houses or flats, properties divided into rooms with shared facilities, hostels, bed and breakfasts or hotels that accommodate more than one household – your landlord will have extra legal responsibilities on fire and general safety, water supply and drainage, gas and electricity, waste disposal, and general upkeep.

Reporting disrepairs

If you have incurred an injury, health problem or had belongings damaged because of disrepair your landlord could be considered negligent and failed in their duty of care as set out in the Defective Premises Act 1972.

However, in almost all circumstances of disrepair, your landlord only has to make repairs when they know there’s a problem – so make sure you report any needed repairs as soon as you spot them.

With things like damp, you should also show proof that you have done your best to prevent or limit the problem – like using extractor fans, dehumidifiers, and opening windows to prevent damp.

Keeping evidence of disrepairs

When it comes to complaining it is really helpful and important to have evidence and supporting information. If you have issues with disrepair start keeping records of:

Conversations with your landlord about disrepair issues, including the date you spoke and anything they agreed to do to address the problem.
Copies of any communications – letters, emails or texts you’ve sent to or received from your landlord.
Reports from surveyors, Environmental Health Officers, pest control or any other experts who have visited your home.
Photographs of the issue, especially if it gets worse over time.
Belongings or photographs of belongings that have been damaged because of disrepair. (You could also keep a note of how much they cost and receipts of items you bought to replace them).
Any medical visits due to injuries or health issues caused by the conditions in your home.

Complaining to your landlord

Your first step is making a formal complaint to your landlord. You can complain that:

They have failed to deal with a repair problem.
They have been slow or dragged their feet when it comes to making repairs.
They have done the repair work but it’s of poor quality.
Every social housing landlord must have a complaints policy and procedure, and give you the option to complain in a range of ways. The policy should be accessible – usually there are copies of policies and procedures available on landlords’ websites.

The policy should give clear guidance on the amount of time your landlord has to respond to your complaint and what you can do if you’re unhappy with the outcome.

Checklist for a formal written complaint

It’s best to make your complaint in writing, and to keep a copy of the letter and any response.

When putting your complaint in writing there are some key things to include:

Make an explicit statement that this is a formal complaint – even by just making the heading of the letter “complaint”.
State clearly why you’re complaining – even if it seems obvious.
Facts like relevant dates and times, the names of anyone involved, and how you’ve been affected – for example, poor physical or mental health or property damage.
Explain exactly what you expect your landlord to do to resolve the issue – such as compensate you for damages or complete repairs without delay.
Copies of any other documentation that supports your complaint, such as photographs of the problem and receipts of items that have been damaged.
The date your letter was written and sent.
Your contact details – so that they can respond.
Make sure you keep a copy of the letter and any attachments, and if possible try to get proof of postage. Most complaints procedures have two or three stages and if you’re unhappy with the final outcome of your complaint, you can complain to an Ombudsman.

Complaining to your local authority or councillor

If your repair problem is urgent and your landlord hasn’t done anything about it, then making a complaint to them may not be the best way to resolve it: you may need to consider other options like going to your local authority for emergency assistance.
If you are a local authority tenant, you can also raise your disrepair problem with a local councillor at the same time that you complain to your landlord.

You can contact a local councillor through your local authority or by attending the councillor’s advice surgery. However you get in touch with them make sure you include as much information and provide evidence of the issue.

Complaining to the Ombudsman

If you’re unhappy with the outcome of a complaint to your landlord, are at a deadlock, or feel that you have exhausted the complaints process, you can complain to a regulatory body or Ombudsman.

Landlords usually take their findings seriously and act on them. However, this may be dependent on whether or not your landlord is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.

You can find out using their search tool: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/residents/make-a-complaint/#iylamoos

A complaint to the Housing Ombudsman may take some time to be investigated. But if the Ombudsman finds that your landlord is responsible for the problem, their report will include recommendations for a suitable solution, such as payment of compensation and fixing the issue.

To complain to the Housing Ombudsman you can go via their website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/

You must include evidence of the disrepair but also that you have exhausted the complaint process with your landlord – so make sure you attach copies of previous correspondence.

Taking your complaint to court

Your last option, if you’ve exhausted the complaints process, is taking your landlord to court.

Before accepting your case, the court will expect you to have already tried to resolve the situation through some form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Possession Claims and Eviction

We know that when disputes arise between tenants and private and social landlords, things can get unpleasant quickly.

It is common for a complaint about housing disrepair to lead to repossession claims – where the landlord seeks to regain possession of the property due to rent arrears or other alleged breaches of the tenancy agreement.

The UK Government has introduced various initiatives and regulations to address housing disrepair and prevent unnecessary evictions: the Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims by Social Landlords is designed to encourage open communication and resolution before resorting to eviction.

It aims to strike a balance between the rights of landlords to protect their properties and the rights of tenants to live in safe and habitable conditions.

Following the Pre-Action Protocol, landlords and tenants can work together to find solutions to housing disrepair issues.

Legal Assistance for Housing Disrepair

Despite legal protections, disputes over housing disrepairs can feel weighted in the landlord’s favour meaning that many tenants are living in unliveable conditions.

If you’re a private or social housing tenant and where you’re currently living feels unlivable, you could make a housing disrepair claim against your landlord if the disrepair has caused you harm or losses.

See if you can claim

Legal Assistance for Housing Disrepair

Via court action, tenants can seek compensation for the physical and financial impact of disrepair.

We know that raising a dispute over your home can feel exhausting – so we want to help connect people to additional legal support so they can demand the living conditions they deserve.

Our recommended legal provider, Home Rescue, can claim on your behalf and ensure that you will not incur expensive legal costs.