If you are a tenant living in a rented property, your landlord will have agreed to repair certain aspects of your property set out in your ‘tenancy agreement’ and under other areas of the law.

If you do not have a tenancy agreement, for example if it was a verbal agreement between you and the landlord, the law imposes obligations on your landlord to carry out basic repairs such as keeping in repair the structure and interior of your home.

It does not matter whether you are renting from:

  1. a private landlord
  2. local council
  3. or a social landlord

Once you have notified your landlord of the disrepair, your landlord must not unreasonably delay carrying out the repairs. If they do not carry out the repairs within a reasonable time period then you have a potential claim for disrepair against them.

If your landlord refuses to repair the property or continuously ignores you, we may be able to take action against them to undertake the repairs. You may also be entitled to compensation for not only the inconvenience you have suffered, but any losses you have incurred as a result of the disrepair. How much compensation you are to receive is assessed on an individual basis. This includes the severity of the disrepair, how long you have suffered from the disrepairs and how they have affected you.

If you wish to pursue a claim against your landlord, we ask for you to contact us as soon as possible as we have to provide them with 21 days’ notice before making a claim against them. This is why it is important to notify your landlord of the disrepair and allow them a reasonable time to fix the issue.