Housing Disrepair

Our client was a secure tenant of a London local authority. She had been experiencing disrepair to her home, including leaks in the bathroom. These were causing damp and mould growth, as well as damage to the wall plaster and timbers.

Our housing team were instructed to represent her in bringing a claim against the local authority landlord. A claim was issued at court and settlement was secured for all the necessary works to be carried out to her home. Our client was also awarded compensation of £22,500.

Our housing lawyers represented a tenant from a local authority who complained of extensive disrepair throughout their home.

We obtained a report from a chartered surveyor detailing the defects to the property and what works were required, then sent this to the landlord. The tenant’s landlord failed to respond, so court proceedings were issued. At court, the landlord was found liable for the damage. We secured an injunction for the repairs and compensation, plus the payment of our client’s legal fees.

In a group action claim, our clients were a group of residents of a London social landlord. They had suffered a lack of heating and hot water in their homes for several years.

Our housing team were instructed to help and were able to secure a settlement in excess of £100,000 for the residents, together with an agreement to carry out works to repair their properties.

Our client had suffered with water penetration, damp, mould growth, electrical issues and blocked drains throughout their tenancy. A Letter of Claim was sent to their landlord, followed by the instruction of an independent Chartered Surveyor.

The surveyor confirmed that there was serious disrepair to the property and that the landlord was in breach of their repairing obligations and their duty of care. The property was not reasonably suitable for human habitation and failed to meet hazard standards.

A copy of the report was sent to the landlord requiring them to agree to carry out the necessary works and compensate our client. Our client’s landlord failed to respond and accordingly we issued court proceedings against them. The landlord initially tried to defend the claim, but we negotiated full repairs, compensation and payment of our client’s legal fees.

Our client had a long standing issue of damp affecting their bedroom wall. Although works had been carried out previously, the damp returned soon afterwards, causing staining, mould growth and damage to our client’s belongings, including their bedding, soft furnishings and clothing.

A Letter of Claim was sent to the landlord followed by the instruction of an independent Chartered Surveyor. The surveyor confirmed that the damp was due to a defect of the cavity wall. They concluded that our client’s landlord was in breach of their repairing obligations and in breach of their duty of care.

A copy of the report was sent to the landlord requiring them to agree to carry out the necessary works and compensate our client. They initially refused to agree to these works, preferring the findings of their own surveyor. After further negotiations, the landlord eventually conceded and agreed to carry out the repairs and pay compensation.

Our client was a social housing tenant who was recovering from cancer. She first noticed some damp and mould in her home and reported this about 3 years ago. Despite it being cleaned off, it continued to grow back.

It transpired after we instructed an expert surveyor to attend there was an issue with faulty and cracked guttering and this was causing rainwater to leak into her home. The landlord agreed to fix the property’s guttering, carry out all the necessary internal repairs and redecorate.

Our client had a recurring damp issue at her home. This resulted in the property smelling strongly of damp and caused our client distress, inconvenience and embarrassment.

A Letter of Claim was sent to the landlord however the landlord maintained that works had been carried out effectively and there was no further damp affecting the property. We instructed an independent Chartered Surveyor, who confirmed issues with damp and the windows. He concluded that our client’s landlord was in breach of their repairing obligations.

The landlord initially refused further works however following a further inspection by their own expert, they agreed to carry out works to address the damp and upgrade the windows to double glazed windows. They also agreed to pay compensation and our client’s legal costs.

We were instructed by a client who had water penetration, severe damp and mould affecting her home. The damp was so bad that her children could not sleep in the bedroom and were sleeping on the living room floor. An independent expert confirmed the property was not fit for human habitation.

The landlord did not engage with us and so we issued a claim for disrepair in the County Court. They attempted to defend the claim by denying or minimising the disrepair, but later agreed to carry out all works as identified by the independent expert. The claim was subsequently settled with an agreement to do all works, pay our client compensation and pay our legal costs.

We were instructed by a client due to water leaks in her bathroom that were affecting the electrical wiring of the property and causing lights and plug sockets to blow, as well as damp and mould.

The landlord confirmed they would ask their surveyor to carry out an inspection. We agreed to this and advised that we would also instruct an independent Chartered Surveyor. The surveyor confirmed that there was damp and mould and that the property was not fit for human habitation. They recommended that works be undertaken to fix the issues.

The landlord agreed to carry out all proposed works and confirming that they wished to try and avoid litigation and settle the claim. Following negotiations, the case was settled with an agreement to carry out works, pay compensation and pay our legal costs.

We were instructed by a client due to an ongoing issue with her heating. The system had been defective for 2 years causing her home to be very cold. She had purchased an electric heater but this was costly to use.

A Letter of Claim was sent to the landlord. They replied confirming they would investigate and asked that we refrain from instructing an independent surveyor. We advised that we felt it necessary to consult our own surveyor to have an ‘independent’ assessment and to preserve evidence on behalf of our client, should litigation be required. Our surveyor confirmed that the heating system required immediate repair and that the property wasn’t for human habitation.

As the landlord did not reply to our Letter of Claim within the specified timeframe, we issued our client’s claim for disrepair as well as an application to the court for an injunction forcing the landlord to carry out the works urgently. The landlord responded and replaced the heating system and agreed to pay our client compensation and their legal fees.

We were instructed by a housing association tenant living with her 3 children in a three bedroom flat. The property suffered from disrepair including damp and defective windows. The damp caused extensive mould growth and affected our client and her children’s health, including exacerbation of Asthma.

A letter of claim was sent to the landlord. Accordingly we instructed an independent expert surveyor to inspect the property and prepare a report confirming the disrepair within the property. The expert advised that the primary cause of the damp was condensation within the property. He also identified defective windows and some other minor items of disrepair.

Works were agreed with the landlord whereby they would overhaul the windows, remove the mould, sterilise, wash down and redecorate the affected rooms. As a result of this agreement it was possible to negotiate a settlement without the need for court proceedings. The claim was settled with an agreement to complete the works within 8 weeks, compensation paid to our client and payment of legal costs.

We represented a housing association tenant whose home has been suffering from severe and worsening subsidence, associated leaks and resulting damage to her property. The conditions were causing her distress and she was having to fill wide cracks herself with expanding foam and Sellotape. Various inspections had been carried out but the housing association had failed to act on any recommendations.

We assisted her with obtaining an expert report which confirmed the subsidence needed further investigation by a specialist. Despite the landlord stating that further inspections would be carried out, no such steps were taken.

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We previously represented our client, Ms M, in a claim for disrepair and damages. The disrepair included leaking from our client’s bathroom, causing damp to penetrate the children’s bedroom. The case was settled in November 2021 with an agreement to pay damages and move our client and her family to permanent alternative accommodation.

After trying to chase and give the landlord further time to comply with the order, we represented Ms M in bringing an enforcement action against her landlord. At the hearing the Judge ordered that the landlord must provide alternative accommodation to our client within 6 weeks, and in any event, no later than 10 weeks.

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We were instructed to deal with a case involving disrepair which consisted of having poorly fitting windows and doors. The poor fitting caused there to be damp and mould growth within the property due to a lack of suitable ventilation and poor insulation of the property. The poorly fitting windows also caused a security issue as people were able to gain access into Ms Y’s property.

It is an implied term of the tenancy agreement, pursuant to Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 that Ms Y’s landlord would keep in repair the structure and exterior of the house and the installations therein for the supply of gas, water, electricity, sanitation and space and heating.

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We were instructed to deal with a case involving serious housing disrepair over a four year period, including extensive damp and mould. The damp and mould growth was a result of penetrating damp which was caused by various water leaks; this was made worse by Ms S’s landlord not providing effective heating.

The claim was defended, however, negotiations were entered into and the claim was settled. The parties agreed upon terms of settlement including for the landlord to complete the outstanding work and replace the heating system, payment of damages, for the settlement sum to be offset against Ms S’s rent arrears, and the balance paid within 28 days.

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We were instructed to deal with a case involving housing disrepair, which included serious damp and mould growth around the property. The property did not have adequate heating and for some periods had no hot water due to issues with the boiler.

Over a two year period there was intermittent water penetration from the roof, which resulted in damp and mould growth in the property.

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We were instructed to deal with housing disrepair case where there had been a leak in the property that had been ongoing for 10 years, causing damp and mould growth.

The landlord did repair the leak but the damp and mould growth returned. During the works to repair the leaks it was also found that the ceiling contained asbestos.

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We were instructed to deal with housing disrepair case, where there were various types of disrepair within the property including damp, mould growth and a mice infestation. When Ms F came to Hodge Jones & Allen the disrepair had already been ongoing for four years.

We were able to successfully settle the case, with the landlord completing all works in accordance with the joint surveyor’s report, paying Ms F’s legal costs and payment of damages offset against any arrears and/or debts of Ms F.

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We were instructed to deal with a case involving serious disrepair. The property suffered from a severe ongoing leak when there was rainfall as a result rainwater penetrated and water flooded the kitchen and the electrical sockets in the property. There was also heating issues within the property leading to our client having to pay more money as she could not control the heating.

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