The process of making a housing disrepair claim is relatively simple, but once your claim has been initiated and is proceeding forward, there can be complications and the process can become difficult and stressful. This is particularly the case if you are still living in the rental accommodation in question. There are also issues with eligibility that you need to think about before proceeding with a housing disrepair claim.

You can receive professional support in these situations from legal experts such as Legal HD, but here we have put together five common scenarios that occur quite frequently with housing disrepair claims, and therefore are things you need to consider before making a claim. These can ultimately save you time, cost and upset if it is not advisable to pursue a claim. Or if you have thought about all these things and are happy to proceed, then they can ensure that your claim is valid and provide you with confidence of success.

Have I reported the fault to the right person?

In order to be eligible for a housing disrepair claim, you must have reported a problem to the landlord responsible for your property. If you are renting the property from a housing association or a local authority, it is possible that you don’t know who your direct point of contact is. Therefore you may run in to problems if you only report the issue to an office number and can’t be sure that the necessary details have been forwarded to the person directly responsible for your property. This can be useful for many different things, but particularly in this case, for proving that your landlord has been suitably notified of the repair or fault.

Have I given the landlord long enough to resolve the issue?

You can only proceed with a housing disrepair claim if the landlord has been notified of the problem and has not resolved it after being given a reasonable period of time to do so. This means that you can’t report it one day and expect it to be resolved in 24 hours, particularly if it is a big or costly job. You need to assess the problem and the resources of the landlord and decide what a ‘reasonable’ time period is. Your legal experts will be able to help you with this. It is possible that in some circumstances it is reasonable to give the landlord a couple of opportunities, and therefore, if they haven’t carried out the repairs after being asked twice, and a significant period of time has elapsed, then you can proceed with a claim.

Is the problem the landlord’s responsibility?

If you have caused the damage that needs repairing, or because of your negligence a fault has occurred, then you cannot proceed with a claim. Also, if the repair you have reported is on something like an electrical item that you own and have brought to the property yourself, then this is outside the landlord’s responsibilities and therefore you cannot proceed with a claim in this instance.

Do I have sufficient evidence?

When you are making a housing disrepair claim you will be asked to provide evidence of a number of things to support your case. This is likely to include evidence of when you reported the problem, who you reported it to, what the problem is and then any evidence to support any additional claim such as personal injury, damage to your possessions or financial loss. In most cases this can be dates and times of contact, copies of emails etc and photographic evidence. But if you don’t have this then your claim may not be successful.

Do I want to remain living in the rental accommodation while this claim proceeds?

While the majority of housing disrepair claims are settled amicably, the requisite repairs are carried out and suitable compensation is paid out to the claimant, in some cases this doesn’t go quite as smoothly. It is possible that your landlord is un-cooperative or fights the claim and is very reluctant to carry out the repairs. If this happens it may have the knock-on effect of making life very uncomfortable if you wish to continue living in the rental accommodation. Even if the claim proceeds okay, it could drag on and the problem could get worse, making living in the accommodation difficult, so consider this before you make a claim, and think about whether you can comfortably live in the same accommodation while the claim proceeds, and what consequences, if any, making a claim may present.

If you need any assistance or advice with making a housing disrepair claim, then contact our team at Legal HD. We can confirm your eligibility for making a claim and can support you through the claims process, so contact us today.