Compensation from Landlord | Damaged Property & Breaches

Seeking compensation from Landlord

If you live in a rented council or housing association property which is in a substandard state, our team of No win No fee Disrepair Solicitors can step in and help you obtain compensation from your Landlord.

We understand that life is hard enough without coming home to a house which is lacking in the very basics, such as a working roof, windows that shut and pipes that don’t leak.

Whether you rent a council or housing association property, we can you force your landlord to repair your home. Moreover, we can force them to compensate you for the inconvenience and damage. You could even get your rent refunded.

Contact us now or continue reading to find out more about your rights.

Start your Housing Disrepair claim

Requirements of making a claim against your landlord

As long as you have complained during your tenancy, you can claim up to as many as six (6) years after leaving.

Ideally, records of your complaints should be kept. Especially any text messages and emails you may have sent.

This will be your proof that you put the landlord on notice of the problem.

Read more about this here.

Tenants of housing associations report wildly different experiences when reporting problems – with some housing associations very quick to act and some utterly hopeless.

Is making repairs landlord’s responsibility?

Whilst you as the tenant are responsible for any minor repair jobs that are due to normal wear and tear, there are definite areas which are your landlords responsibility.

For instance, walls, windows and roofs, as well as electrical systems and plumbing, are your landlord’s responsibility. In other words, if they are faulty, your landlord needs to rectify the issues.

Once the landlord or letting agent is notified of any disrepair, they should carry out remedial action as soon as reasonably possible. You must of course give access to your landlord’s contractors.

Can poor housing affect health?

Damp conditions are notorious for causing or aggravating ill heath e.g. Asthma. Black spot mould is known to be toxic and can, unfortunately, be deadly.

If poor housing conditions are causing you or your family ill health, our team of experienced Solicitor can assist you.

Damp caused damage to personal property

If your personal property has been damaged as a result of the disrepair, you can claim compensation.

To back up your claim, you should take photographs of the damage and keep receipts for anything you have had to replace.

Under your landlord’s statutory repairing obligations, they are liable to put your property into repair in certain circumstances. Though, they are under no obligation to carry out improvements.

It is sometimes difficult to say exactly where to draw the line. One obvious example is windows.

If your property has rotting window frames then this is something the landlord should put right.

However, they are under no obligation to install double-glazing. That would clearly be seen as an improvement to the property.

How do we calculate your housing disrepair claim compensation?

First of all, if you haven’t been able to use part or all of your rented property due to disrepair, you may be entitled to a reduction or refund of your rent.

This is known as abatement. How much of the rent is abated will depend on how much of your home is uninhabitable.

If no part of the house is habitable, 100% of the rent may be abated. If only part of the house is unusable then the rent will be reduced proportionally.

Secondly, the amount of compensation you can claim will depend on the circumstance. You may want to claim compensation for clothing, bedding or curtains that have been spoilt by damp or mould.

Moreover, your carpets and furniture that may have been damaged by water leaking from the burst pipes your landlord hasn’t fixed.

You can also claim compensation for property damaged while repair work was being carried out.