Your landlord has legal obligations to maintain your rented property, but when this doesn’t happen and it causes you distress and discomfort then you may be eligible to claim compensation.
Damp, mould, leaking pipes, broken radiators and electrical issues can be all considered housing disrepair. A specialist claims solicitor can help you to compel your landlord to carry out essential repairs to your home and recover compensation for the delay in doing so.
Requirements
You can make a housing disrepair claim against your landlord for any repairs that have not been carried out to the required standard. This can include a number of issues, such as burst pipes, leaky toilets and broken heaters.
Your landlord is required by law to keep all aspects of your home in good repair. This includes the exterior walls, roof and windows, drains and sanitary appliances (such as sinks and toilets).
A housing disrepair claim can also cover damage to your belongings and financial loss. These damages can be recovered in the form of a rent reduction or a compensation payout.
A successful housing disrepair claim is dependent on the nature and severity of the disrepair. In addition, you need to be able to provide proof that your landlord knew or should have known about the damage and failed to fix it.
Time limit
When you’re a council tenant or a housing association tenant, your landlord or housing association is required to maintain your home to certain standards. This includes things like damp and mould problems, electrical problems and fire safety issues.
If your property is in disrepair, you could be entitled to claim compensation from your landlord. This is especially true if the problem causes you health problems, or damages your belongings.
The law says that if you’ve been living in a rented property for more than 6 months, it’s your landlord or social housing association’s duty to keep the house in a decent state of repair. You can make a claim for this if you have been forced to live in poor conditions or suffer from problems such as damp and mould because of the housing association’s failure to fix these issues.
You should serve a letter of claim on your landlord at the earliest reasonable opportunity. Your landlord has 20 working days from receipt to respond to your claim.
Complaints Process
It can be worrying and a source of anxiety for tenants when they are considering complaining to their landlord about issues with their rental property. Dampness, water leaks and no hot water are just a few of the disrepair issues that plague many UK properties.
There are a number of legal obligations that landlords must meet in order to maintain a rental property and keep it safe for their tenants. If your landlord has failed to meet these obligations and this has caused you distress or discomfort, then you can make a claim for housing disrepair compensation.
The first step is to notify your landlord about the issues that you believe are caused by disrepair. This can be done verbally or through written correspondence. This should include pictures of the damage and explain why the problem is causing you distress or discomfort.
Court Proceedings
If you are a tenant and you are not satisfied with the standard of your property or you have noticed that it has been damaged, then you can make a claim against your landlord for damages. These claims can be made under contract, tort and statute.
The court may also order your landlord to repair the problem within a certain time or in some circumstances, they might be required to pay compensation. This can be done in the County Court or the Magistrates’ Court.
You should always speak to a legal firm before you make a disrepair claim. They will be able to help you organise a triage assessor to look at your property and check that the damage is valid.