Housing disrepair: check if you can claim compensation

You can ask your landlord to pay you compensation if disrepair caused damage to your health or your belongings.

When you can claim compensation

You can take legal action to claim compensation during your tenancy or after it ends.

You have up to 6 years (or 3 years for a personal injury claim), starting from the time your landlord should have carried out the repair.

If you start your claim during your tenancy, you can also ask the court to order your landlord to do repair work.

You can’t take legal action for compensation unless you report the repair problem to your landlord during your tenancy.

Keep records

Keep records about the disrepair problem in your home to support your compensation claim.

This could include:

• letters or emails sent to and from your landlord about the issue
• photographs of the repair problem
• medical records showing how your health has been affected
• receipts for replacements of damaged or destroyed items
• a report from the council’s environmental health team

What you can claim for

You can make a claim for compensation if repair problems in your home:

• damaged your belongings
• made the health of you or someone in your household worse
• caused you inconvenience or left you unable to use all of your home

Find out more about landlords’ responsibility for repairs.

Compensation for your belongings

You can claim compensation for items of yours that were damaged or destroyed because of your landlord’s failure to carry out repairs. For example, clothing and bedding ruined by mould or furniture damaged by water leaks.

You can also claim compensation for your belongings that were damaged during repair works.

You can claim the cost of replacing items that were damaged or destroyed. If you’ve already bought replacements, keep any receipts and submit them as evidence as part of your claim.

This might only be the second-hand value of the goods, unless it’s not possible or reasonable to buy second-hand replacements.

Damage to health

You can claim compensation if you or anyone in your household health was made worse as a result of the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs. The health problems can be physical or mental.

Keep any doctor’s notes or hospital reports that show how your health has been affected.

The amount of damages you can claim mainly depends on how the repair problem affected your health and for how long.

If you were unable to work you could claim for loss of earnings and for any extra care you needed.

Inconvenience

You can claim compensation if you’ve suffered inconvenience or have not been able to use your home in the normal way as a result of:

• the landlord’s failure to repair your home
• significant disruption during the repair work

How much compensation you can get depends on the level of disrepair, the rent you pay and the level of inconvenience you’ve suffered.

Reduction of rent

You can claim a reduction or refund of rent if you haven’t been able to use part or all of your home because of the disrepair.

You can claim this even if your rent has been paid by housing benefit or universal credit.

The amount you can ask for depends on how much of your home can’t be lived in.

If you can only use half of your home, the court may decide that your rent should be reduced or refunded by 50%.

Take legal action to claim compensation:

If your landlord doesn’t do repairs or does them badly, you can take them to court and claim compensation.

How the court can help

You can take court action if you’ve asked your landlord to do repairs but they aren’t done within a reasonable period. Court action should be your last resort.

You can ask the court to order your landlord to:

• carry out the repairs needed
• pay you compensation

You can make a claim for compensation even after your tenancy has ended.

What legal action costs

Court fees

You usually have to pay court fees to take legal action. Fees can be reduced or waived if you claim benefits or have a low income.

Find out more about court fees on HM Courts and Tribunals website.

Expert’s reports

You might need to pay for:

• an expert’s report to tell the court about the condition of your home
• a medical report if your health has been affected

A solicitor can arrange these for you.

If you win your case, you can claim back these costs from your landlord.

Alternatives to legal action

You can complain to the Housing Ombudsman if you are a council or housing association tenant. This service is free.

Check if you can get legal aid

Legal aid can help people on a low income with certain types of legal action.

You can only get legal aid:

• to order your landlord to carry out repair work that puts you or others in your household at risk.
• if your landlord has started the eviction process due to rent arrears and your defence includes that repairs weren’t done

Contact the Civil Legal Advice helpline to see if you qualify for legal aid.

If you don’t qualify for legal aid

You can take legal action by yourself but it can be difficult and expensive.

Ask a solicitor about a conditional fee arrangement if you can’t get legal aid or you want to make a claim for compensation. This can mean you don’t pay a fee if you lose your case.

The Law Society has more on conditional fee arrangements.

How to prepare for your case

1. Report repairs

A court case won’t succeed if you didn’t report the repairs to your landlord.

Find out how to report repair problems if you are a:

• private tenant
• council and housing association tenant

You don’t have to report repair problems if they are in communal areas, like shared hallways or the lift, but it is always best to let the landlord know.

2. Gather evidence

Your evidence could include:

• copies of letters that show you reported the problem to your landlord
• photographs showing examples of the disrepair or damaged property
• receipts proving you had to replace things damaged or destroyed by the problem
• medical reports explaining how your health has been affected
• report from your council’s environmental health department

3. Send a letter before action

You must send a ‘letter before action’ to your landlord, even if you have already told them you’re going to start legal action.

The letter must:

• explain what the repairs problem is
• set out details of when and how you told the landlord about the problem
• give the landlord 20 working days to put the problem right – unless the repair is urgent
• state that if the landlord doesn’t put the problem right within that time, you intend to take them to court

After 20 working days have passed, you can start your claim in the court.

How to start your court claim

To start a court claim:

• Fill in claim form N1
• Send 2 copies of the N1 form to the court where you want to start court action
• Keep a copy for yourself

Ask your local county court for a form or download the form from HM Courts and Tribunals Service along with advice on how to fill it in.

When the small claims court is used

When you return your claim form the court decides how to deal with your case. Many repairs cases are dealt with under the ‘small claims’ track in the county court.

It’s usually dealt with as a small claim if you want to ask the court to order your landlord to either:

• do repairs that cost under £1000 and pay you compensation of no more than £1000
• only pay you compensation of up to £10,000

An advantage with smalls claims is that if you lose, you don’t have to pay your landlord’s costs.

The court procedure is usually simpler and quicker. It’s easier to represent yourself in court too.

Find out more about small claims at the AdviceGuide website.

Attend the court hearing

Hearings usually take place in a room called chambers. This could be the judge’s private room or a courtroom. The public aren’t allowed to sit in.

You can be represented at the hearing by a solicitor or adviser or you can represent yourself

Before making its decision, the court looks at all the evidence you and your landlord have provided.

What the court can decide

The court can order your landlord to:

• carry out the specified work by a certain date
• pay you an amount in compensation and pay your costs

The court can order your landlord to carry out the work immediately in emergency situations, for example if it’s dangerous for you to live in the property.

The court could also make a declaration that you can do the repairs yourself and deduct what you pay out from future rent.

If your evidence isn’t strong enough, the court could dismiss your claim.

If a landlord ignores the court

If a landlord doesn’t carry out works ordered by the court, they’ll be in contempt of court and can be fined or even sent to prison.

You might have to take further court action if your landlord doesn’t pay you the compensation ordered by the court.

the council’s environmental health team:

Complain to environmental health about rented housing

If the condition of rented housing is affecting your health or safety, the council’s environmental health inspectors could help.

When to complain

It’s usually best to tell your landlord about problems with the condition of your home before you contact environmental health. Your landlord might fix the problem.

Find out how to:

• tell a private landlord about problems in your home
• report problems if you’re a council or housing association tenant

How to contact environmental health

The environmental health team is part of your local council. Environmental health may be part of another department like housing standards, housing advice or housing enforcement.

Find your local council website on Gov.uk and search for the right team.

Ask the council to inspect your home using Shelter’s template letter.

Environmental health inspections

The council should arrange a visit to inspect your home. This is sometimes called a HHSRS or hazard assessment.

The inspection should happen quickly if there’s a serious risk of harm to you or your family.

You might have to wait longer for an inspection at busy times of the year or if the disrepair problems are less urgent.

What environmental health checks

The council’s inspection checks for a range of hazards including:

• damp, condensation and mould growth
• pests and vermin infestations
• broken glass, falling plaster or dangerous stairs
• unsafe gas or electrical installations
• problems with sewage

After an environmental health inspection

Following the inspection, the council decides if it needs to take action. It can:

Send a hazard awareness notice

The council may serve a hazard awareness notice on your landlord.

This identifies the problem and states what should be done to fix it. The notice doesn’t provide timescales for the work to be completed.

Send an improvement notice

If your home contains hazards which are a serious risk to your health and safety, the council might serve an improvement notice on your landlord.

This explains:

• what the problem is and what repairs or improvements are needed
• when the work should start and finish

Sometimes the council will do the work themselves and charge the landlord.

Carry out emergency repairs

The council can take emergency action and carry out repairs if there is an immediate risk of serious harm.

If conditions are very bad, the council might make a prohibition order. This stops all or part of the property being used or lived in until improvements are carried out.

If you’re told you must leave your home because it’s not safe to live in:

Contact a Shelter adviser online or by phone

Council tenants

Environmental health can inspect your home but they can’t take action against the council.

If the inspection shows that there are serious hazards in your home you can:

• complain to the housing department
• consider legal action

An environmental health report can tell the housing department the work that is needed to make your home safe.

Risk of revenge eviction

Some private landlords will take steps to evict their tenants rather than do repair work.

You may have some protection from a ‘revenge eviction’ if you have an assured shorthold tenancy.

You’re only protected if the council gives your landlord either of the following:

• improvement notice
• emergency work notice

Your landlord won’t be able to give you a section 21 notice for at least 6 months.

You’ll also be protected from eviction if they gave you a section 21 notice between the time of your written complaint and the council issuing an improvement or emergency work notice.

Source: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/housing_disrepair_check_if_you_can_claim_compensation