Contact our housing disrepair solicitors for a free assessment of your housing disrepair claim. This article explains what we’ll ask you during an initial free enquiry, and how we’ll assess your eligibility to claim compensation.

For a free claim assessment, call us on 0333 009 6275. We are available to take your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can also email us on enquiries@ashmanssolicitors.com or complete our Free Online Enquiry Form and we’ll be in touch soon.

Housing claims

If your rental home is in a state of disrepair – but your housing association or council hasn’t done anything about it – then you could have grounds for a housing disrepair claim. This is when you take legal against your housing association or council for failing to meet their responsibilities. The court awards you a sum of money to compensate you for your damages. This is calculated according to the amount of rent you pay, and the cost of injury to you or your possessions.

How do I know if I can make a housing disrepair claim?

You can make a housing disrepair claim if:

  • You rent a property; and
  • The property is in a state of disrepair; and
  • Your housing association or council is responsible for fixing this repair; and
  • Your housing association or council fails to repair the issue within a reasonable amount of time

We explain who can make a housing disrepair claim in more detail in this article: Can I Sue My Housing Association for a Housing Disrepair?

If you think you might be eligible, or you’re not sure, then it is always worth getting expert legal advice from our housing disrepair solicitors. This is the easiest way to confirm what your options are. You can read about the subject and do your research, but ultimately, speaking to our lawyers means all your questions can be answered in one fell swoop.

Call us on 0333 009 6275. We are available to take your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can also email us on enquiries@ashmanssolicitors.com or complete our Free Online Enquiry Form and we’ll be in touch soon.

Free housing disrepair assessment

Speaking to a lawyer sounds expensive. But actually, we offer everyone a free assessment of their housing disrepair claim. This means we’ll tell you if you’re entitled to compensation, and we’ll provide this legal advice completely free of charge.

But first, we need to assess your housing disrepair claim. Here are some of the questions we’ll ask you:

1. Is your landlord a private landlord or a social landlord?

A social landlord is usually a housing association or local authority. A private landlord is an individual who owns the property and rents it out on a private basis, sometimes through a letting agent.

We like to know the status of your landlord as it can affect how we handle a claim. We only represent clients who rent from a housing association or local council.

2. Have you reported the disrepair?

To make a claim, you must have reported the disrepair to your housing association or council and given them a reasonable amount of time to fix the issue. If you do not report the disrepair, then your housing association or council cannot be blamed for their lack of action.

We’ll ask if you have reported the disrepair to your housing association or council. If so, we like to know when you contacted them, how you contacted them and what was said.

3. Do you owe any rent?

If you owe your housing association or council rent, then you have technically broken the terms of your tenancy. This gives your housing association or council grounds for evicting you. Rental arrears do not necessarily bar you from making a housing disrepair claim, but we would need to approach the matter very carefully.

If you are completely up to date with your rental payments, then this will not be a concern.

It is worth noting that you should continue to pay your rent, even if you are living with a housing disrepair. This article explains more: Can I Withhold Rent for a Housing Disrepair?

4. Have you made a claim for this disrepair in the past 12 months?

If you have already made a claim for this housing disrepair in the past 12 month, then you will not be able to make another claim for the time-being. We can discuss some other options with you, including enforcement proceedings and contacting your local authority.

5. Can you send photographs or videos of the disrepair?

It helps if we can see images of the disrepair, be it photos and/or videos. This allows us to gauge the extent of the problem, and whether it falls under your housing association’s/council’s repair responsibilities.

6. How has the disrepair affected you and your household?

We will also want to know how the disrepair has affect you and the other members of your household. Have you been inconvenienced at all? Have you had to find temporary accommodation? Has anyone fallen ill or been hurt because of the disrepair? Have any of your possessions been damaged?

Don’t worry if the answer to these questions is ‘no’. If you are living in a property that is unfit for human habitation, then you can make a claim to recover your rent. However, we like to assess what damages you have incurred, as you could be entitled to a greater sum of compensation.

Contact details

We will also want to take your name and contact details so we can write to you.

What happens next?

Once we have all the information we need, we provide you with expert legal advice – remember, this is free of charge. We will say whether you have grounds to make a housing disrepair claim, and whether this is something we can help you with. If we cannot help you, we can make alternative recommendations.

In certain circumstances, we might advise that you contact us in the next month or so. This might be the case if a reasonable amount of time has not yet lapsed since the issue was reported to the housing association or council

We have your best interests at heart. You can rely on us to provide sound legal advice.

Get a free claim assessment today

For a free claim assessment, call us on 0333 009 6275. We are available to take your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can also email us on enquiries@ashmanssolicitors.com or complete our Free Online Enquiry Form and we’ll be in touch soon.