Housing Disrepair Lawyers in London for Tenant Disrepair Claims
Housing Disrepair Lawyers in London for Tenant Disrepair Claims
At OTS Solicitors, our Landlord and Tenant Lawyers in London can help you if you need specialist legal advice on making a housing disrepair claim.
Tenancy agreements and housing disrepair claims
Some tenants are deterred from asking their landlord to make repairs. Others ask for repairs to be carried out, and when their landlord refuses to act, they are unsure about their tenant rights. Some tenants will read through their tenancy agreement to see whether it sets out their landlord's obligations. Reviewing the tenancy agreement can leave tenants confused about the extent of their landlord's repair obligations and uncertain about whether they can force their landlord to act.
Our Housing Disrepair Claim Solicitors in London advise tenants that the extent of their landlord’s duties does not begin and end with the tenancy agreement. Their relationship with their landlord is also governed by statute and regulation. The law allows repair obligations to be implied into the tenancy agreement.
A landlord cannot contract out of their statutory or regulatory obligations. For example, a clause in the tenancy agreement that says the landlord is excused from all landlord repair obligations is invalid, as the law does not allow a landlord to opt out or for the tenant to allow them to do so in exchange for cheaper rent or for accepting them as a tenant rather than other potential renters.
The law and housing disrepair claims by tenants
Landlord and tenant law imposes obligations on landlords to ensure that residential tenanted property is:
- Fit for human habitation, and
- Kept in a reasonable and safe state of repair.
Because tenancy agreements do not define what "fit for human habitation" means or specify the extent of a landlord's repair obligations, tenants often don’t understand their legal rights and know how landlord and tenant law is designed to protect them and their families.
A Housing Disrepair Solicitor can explain your rights as a tenant and send a letter before action to your landlord, highlighting your rights, what your landlord needs to do to comply with the law, and what you will do if they do not act within the law.
Fit for human habitation
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 says that rented houses must be fit for human habitation. If a property is uninhabitable because of an inherent issue (rather than a failure to repair), a tenant can bring a claim under the 2018 Act. A tenant can obtain an order requiring the landlord make the property fit for habitation and pay compensation.
An example of a property that is not fit for habitation is one with a serious mould infestation. This could be due to an inherent design flaw in the property, such as mould growth caused by condensation, or to a landlord's failure to repair the gutters, leading to water ingress and mould growth.
A Housing Disrepair Lawyer can advise you on your rights as a tenant and what proceedings to explore if you are uncertain if you have a housing disrepair claim or if you should be pursuing a claim under the 2018 Act.
Housing disrepair claims
When advising on a potential housing disrepair claim, a Landlord and Tenant Solicitor will consider:
- What was the repair issue? Does it fall within a repair claim or a claim because the house is not fit for human habitation?
- When was the landlord notified about the problem?
- Has the landlord been given a reasonable time to sort out the problem?
The definition of ‘reasonable time’ to fix property issues depends on the seriousness of the problem. Leaving a tenant without running water or heat is clearly an urgent repair. Other problems may not be as obviously urgent, such as an electric fire not working, but the tenant has central heating.
Notifying your landlord about a housing disrepair
It is important to notify your landlord as soon as you become aware of a housing disrepair. Notification should be in writing, but you could inform your landlord by email or text message.
Depending on the severity of the issue and the impact of the disrepair on your living in the property, and your landlord’s initial response to your first contact, you may need to remind your landlord that the repair remains outstanding or has only been partially completed.
At each stage in the process of informing your landlord about the disrepair issue, it can be helpful to remind your landlord why the repair is important to you. For example, if the property is mouldy, you should mention if your child is asthmatic. If you are elderly or in poor health, you should mention your age or health condition if you are without heat.
Before informing your landlord about a repair, take pictures of the problem. If your landlord delays fixing the problem and it has worsened, you should take more pictures. If a workman has been sent to fix the problem but left the work half done, then additional pictures of how the job was left could be useful to your housing disrepair claim.
It is best to keep a diary or written record of all contact with your landlord, letting agent or tradespersons. This is important because your landlord may allege that they inspected the property on dates when they did not, or criticise you for failing to provide access when they were at fault for giving insufficient notice.
Taking early housing law legal advice from a Housing Disrepair Lawyer can help you identify what information and evidence you need to be gathering to help you resolve the problem as quickly as possible, or if that does not work, to help you secure the best evidence to assist with your housing disrepair claim and request for compensation.
Housing disrepair claim advice from OTS Solicitors
The Landlord and Tenant team at OTS Solicitors specialise in helping tenants with disrepair claims. In many cases, we can provide initial legal advice on tenant rights, helping a tenant get their landlord to properly fix the disrepair without the need for a court claim.
If you are unable to resolve the problem with your landlord, our lawyers can send a detailed letter before action to your landlord to ensure they are aware that you know your rights as a tenant and that you will bring a housing disrepair claim unless the landlord fixes the issue within a reasonable timeframe. If your landlord still does not fix the issue, our specialist Housing Disrepair Lawyers can start court proceedings to ensure your landlord complies with their repair obligations, or face the consequences of a court claim for a repair order, compensation, and costs.
Appointments are available at our offices in central London, by phone, and online.
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