Can I Sue My Landlord for Not Doing Repairs? A Guide for Council and Housing Association Tenants

Your five routes, and which one to use

If your council or housing association has left a repair undone, court is one of five things you can do. Here they are, side by side.

You do not have to pick one and stay with it. More than one can run at once, and a disrepair claim sits well alongside an environmental health report. What you cannot sensibly do is skip to the end. Suing is the last step, not the first, and the earlier routes build the record a court reads later.

When the law lets you take action

Four things generally need to be in place before a claim gets off the ground.

1. The repair is your landlord's responsibility. Structure and exterior, heating, water, gas, electricity and sanitation fall under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. A hazard making the home unfit falls under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.

2. You told them. In writing wherever possible. Your landlord is generally not liable until they know, so the date you reported it is usually the date the clock starts.

3. A reasonable time has passed. Same day for a gas leak. Around 28 days for repairs that are not urgent. Damp and mould run to the fixed timescales in Awaab's Law.

4. You are inside the time limit. Six years for the disrepair, three years for any personal injury element.

Meeting all four does not mean a claim will succeed. It means it is worth investigating.

Route 1. A formal complaint to your landlord

Every council and housing association has to operate a complaints procedure with two stages. Stage 1 usually carries a response deadline of 10 working days, Stage 2 a deadline of 20.

Do it properly and in writing. It sometimes works, and a complaint that fixes the repair in a fortnight has saved you a year. It is also the only way to reach the Housing Ombudsman, who will not look at your case without your landlord's final response.

Route 2. The Housing Ombudsman

Free, and open to council and housing association tenants once you have that final response.

The Ombudsman can order your landlord to carry out the works, apologise and pay compensation. Awards are generally modest next to a court claim, often a few hundred pounds, and investigations commonly take six to twelve months. It does the job where your aim is the repair. It rarely covers what you have lost where the disrepair has wrecked belongings or affected health. Our guide to making a Housing Ombudsman complaint walks through it.

Route 3. Environmental health

Your council's environmental health team can inspect your home under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If they find a Category 1 hazard they have a legal duty to act, and can serve an improvement notice, make a prohibition order or carry out emergency remedial action themselves. It is free, it is fast by the standards of everything else here, and it carries weight. It will not get you compensation.

One thing to know first. If your landlord is the council, environmental health cannot serve a notice on itself, so council tenants go to the Ombudsman or bring a claim instead. Against a housing association, the council can and does enforce.

Route 4. A housing disrepair claim

The main route, and the only one that deals with the repairs and full compensation in one action.

How it works

1. Your solicitor sends a letter of claim under the Pre Action Protocol for Housing Disrepair Cases.

2. Your landlord has 20 working days to respond and disclose their repair records for the property.

3. An independent surveyor inspects and reports on what is wrong, what caused it and what the works will cost.

4. Your landlord puts forward an offer covering a schedule of works and your compensation.

5. If no fair offer arrives, court proceedings are issued.

Most claims settle at stage 4. The word sue suggests a courtroom, and the great majority of these cases never see one. The surveyor's report lands on the landlord's desk, they price up defending it, and they settle.

Funding is normally no win no fee. Nothing to pay upfront, no fee to pay if the claim does not succeed, and a success fee capped at 25% deducted from any compensation if it does. An After the Event insurance premium is normally deducted as well, and every deduction is set out in writing before you sign anything. Our guide to housing disrepair claims covers the rest.

Route 5. Prosecution in the magistrates' court

Under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 you can prosecute your landlord directly where the condition of your home is a statutory nuisance prejudicial to health. You must give 21 days' written notice first.

The court can order the works and impose a fine. Compensation is limited and legal aid here is restricted, so it earns its place where a fast court order matters more than money.

What a disrepair claim can cover

• An order or an agreement for the works to be carried out.

• General damages, a share of the rent you paid for the period the problem lasted.

• Special damages, for damaged furniture, clothing, carpets and electricals, higher energy bills and alternative accommodation.

• Personal injury damages, where damp, mould, cold or a defect has affected someone's health.

Many claims settle somewhere between £1,000 and £10,000, and severe cases that ran for years have gone beyond that. Broad ranges from cases of a similar kind, not a valuation of yours. Our guide to how compensation is worked out has the detail.

Can your landlord evict you for making a claim?

Bringing a disrepair claim is not a ground for possession. It appears nowhere in the list of grounds a landlord is allowed to rely on.

As a council or housing association tenant you will usually hold a secure or an assured tenancy, which your landlord cannot simply end. To get you out they must serve the correct notice, go to court and prove a specific statutory ground, such as serious rent arrears or antisocial behaviour, with a judge deciding whether it is reasonable. Complaining about damp does not supply that ground.

If your landlord threatens you or treats you differently after you complain, that is a separate legal wrong you can act on. Write down what was said, when and by whom.

What to do before you go near a court

• Report it in writing. Email or the repairs portal, not a phone call. Keep the sent copy.

• Photograph and video everything. Dated, in daylight, and fresh ones every few weeks so the record shows how long it ran.

• Keep a diary of every call, visit and missed appointment.

• See your GP if anyone is unwell, and ask for the housing conditions to be noted.

• Save receipts for anything replaced or paid out for.

• Keep paying your rent. Withholding it will not force a repair. It builds arrears, and arrears are a ground for possession.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sue my landlord for not doing repairs?

You can. The law allows a tenant to bring a claim where the repair was the landlord's responsibility, they were told about it, and they failed to act within a reasonable time. Whether your own claim succeeds depends on your facts and evidence.

How much can I sue my landlord for?

Many claims settle somewhere between £1,000 and £10,000, built from a share of the rent you paid while the problem went unfixed, plus damaged belongings and any effect on health. A broad range, not a valuation of your claim.

Can I sue my landlord without a solicitor?

You can, but claims run to protocol deadlines, disclosure rules and expert surveyors. Most tenants use a solicitor on no win no fee, so cost is not usually the barrier.

How long do I have to sue my landlord?

Six years from the disrepair itself, and three years for any personal injury element.

Can I sue my landlord if I have rent arrears?

Arrears do not stop you bringing a claim. Any compensation may be set against what you owe.

Does it matter whether my landlord is the council or a housing association?

Not for the repairing obligations, which are the same for both. It matters for environmental health, because a council cannot serve an enforcement notice on itself.

Will I have to go to court?

Most claims settle before a hearing, usually once the independent surveyor's report has been served. Proceedings sit behind the claim as pressure on the landlord, not the expected end.