Housing Disrepair
"Are you a tenant living in rented property? "
Has the property fallen into disrepair which has caused damage to your health or belongings?
Then you may have a disrepair claim against your landlord. We understand that it can be very distressing when your landlord refuses to repair your home or fails to repair faults leading to damage.
For advice in relation to a claim for disrepair call our housing law team on PHONE NUMBER for a 30 minute appointment with one of our disrepair experts.
When to Claim Compensation
Legal action can be taken to claim compensation during your tenancy or when it ends.
Starting from the time your landlord should have carried out repairs to your property, you have up to 6 years (or 3 years for a personal injury claim).
If your claim starts during your tenancy, you can ask the court to order your landlord to do repair work.
Please note that legal action cannot be taken for compensation unless the repair problem is reported to your landlord during your tenancy.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Ensure you keep records about the disrepair problem in your home to support your compensation claim.
Such records could include:
• Pictures of the repair problem
• Letters or emails sent to and from your landlord about the repair
• Medical records showing the damage to your health
• Receipts for replacements of damaged or destroyed items
• A report from the council’s environmental health team
What To Claim Compensation For
You can make a claim if repair problems in your home:
• Caused damage to your belongings
• Caused damage to your health of you or someone in your household
• Caused you inconvenience or left you unable to use all of your home
Compensation For Your Belongings
Compensation can be claimed for items that were damaged or destroyed because your landlord failed to carry out repairs to your property. Such items could be clothing, beddings, furniture or general belongings ruined by mould or damaged by water leaks or repair works.
Compensation can be claimed for the cost of replacing items that were damaged or destroyed. Keep receipts of any replacements you have already purchased as evidence as part of your claim.
Damage to health
Compensation can be claimed if you or anyone in your household’s health deteriorated as a result of the landlord's failure to carry out repairs. This health problems could be physical or mental.
Hospital records or doctor’s notes showing the effect to your health must be kept.
Inconveniences caused
Compensation can be claimed if you've suffered any inconvenience or have not been able to use your home in the normal way due to your landlord's failure to repair your home and disruption caused during the repair work
Reduction of rent
Reduction or refund of rent can be claimed if you have not been able to use part or all of your home because of the disrepair.
Compensation can be claimed even if your rent has been paid by housing benefit or universal credit.
