Our client moved into a new home in 2015. Soon afterwards she noticed damp and mould forming in the porch and living room. She tried to clean it, but it got worse and so it was reported to her landlord.
Her landlord sent an agent to carry out an inspection. They claimed it was related to condensation so workmen came and painted over it, but the problem soon returned. It continued to get worse over the next few years.
Our client did the right thing. She continued to report the problems. Her landlord undertook several inspections and kept trying to paint over the affected areas. They tried this numerous times over several years, but, just as it did not work the first time, it did not work the fifth or sixth time.
The problem seemed to stem from the area around the chimney breast in the living room. Our client informed her landlord of this, but they appeared not to listen.
For more information on the requirements for notice see our guide to the subject https://www.mjvlaw.co.uk/legal-news/housing-disrepair-notice/
Expert’s Report
We instructed an expert surveyor to carry out an inspection. He did so and produced a comprehensive report that the landlord had no choice but to agree with.
He found the following issues:
The Cause of the Damp
The damp in the porch was penetrating damp. It had been retro-fitted with a damp proof course that had failed. It was installed above ground level and so was ineffective. It needed to be replaced and the damage caused repaired.
In the living room, the damp proof course around the chimney breast had failed. This was just as our client had suspected.
His report recommended that the plaster and skirting boards be removed and a chemical damp proof course applied. Once the treatment had been completed, the wall needed to be re-plastered, new skirting boards fitted and the room decorated.
The hallway had also fallen into disrepair due to the damp in the porch and hallway. It was recommended that, once the works were complete, the hallway be redecorated at the landlord’s expense.
Repairs
The landlord’s surveyor agreed with our expert’s findings. Her landlord arranged for the works to be completed quickly, as this client was elderly and vulnerable. They were satisfactorily completed and our client’s property was returned to the condition it should always have been in.
Compensation
Our client also accepted an offer of £4,000 in compensation. The problem had persisted for around three years prior to our instruction.
For more information on the way compensation is determined please see our introductory guide at https://www.mjvlaw.co.uk/legal-news/housing-disrepair-compensation/
Your Claim
If you live in a council or housing association property and your landlord has not undertaken repairs when requested, you may have a claim for housing disrepair.
If we are able to assist you, we will do so on a no win no fee basis.
For your free initial consultation, e-mail info@mjvlaw.co.uk or call us on 01253 858231. We can provide you with expert advice at no cost to you unless your claim succeeds.
by MJV&Co
Withholding Rent
Many of our clients ask us whether they are entitled to withhold rent if heir landlord fails to undertake repairs. Given that compensation is normally calculated as a reduction in rent, this may seem reasonable. However, you should not withhold rent and should continue to pay in full.
Tenancy Agreement
The tenancy agreement requires you to pay the rent on a certain date. If you do not, you risk being evicted. Whether the court would grant an eviction would depend on the amount of arrears. If it is more than 2 months’ or 8 weeks’ rent, the Court has no discretion to refuse the request.
The agreement also requires a landlord to comply with their repairing obligations. It may seem unfair that you need to pay the rent in full. However, compensation in a housing disrepair claim is intended to be compensation for paying more rent than you should have for a property in disrepair.
If you do not pay your full rent, you will accrue arrears. It may be that your tenancy agreement provides for your landlord being entitled to recover interest on those arrears meaning that you will pay even more rent than you otherwise would.
If your landlord takes legal action against you, they have a right to claim interest. Any Claimant in a County Court claim is. This is provided by Section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984. They are entitled to claim 8% of any monies owed as part of the claim.
If they do issue court proceedings, they are also entitled to recover their costs. If the claim is for less than £10,000 the costs will be limited to small claims costs of no more than £100. However, they are entitled to claim their court fees as well. These will be several hundreds of pounds. The exact amount will depend on the amount involved and whether a hearing is required.
While it is not certain that landlords would take such action, they may. They are entitled to do so and so it is not a risk we advise tenants to take.
Compensation
Even if your landlord does not evict or sue you, you would not receive the full amount of compensation if you were to withhold rent and subsequently settle your housing disrepair claim.
It is established that landlords can deduct the damages from the arrears due.
It is rare for a tenant to be awarded a 100% rent reduction as damages. Our experience suggests that the average is 20-40%. As such, if you withhold your full rent, it is possible that you would not receive any compensation and would remain in arrears after the claim settled. This would mean that the treat of eviction and or being sued would remain until you had paid the arrears.
Claims
If you are a tenant in a housing association or council property and your landlord has not completed repairs you have reported, we may be able to help.
Call us on 01253 858231 or e-mail info@mjvlaw.co.uk
by MJV&Co
A Property in General Disrepair
Our client complained of lots of smaller problems that, over time, got worse and caused her property to descend into a state of general disrepair.
Leak
The first problem our client complained of was a leak emanating from the toilet. Her landlord sent an agent who appeared to fix it, but the problem soon returned. She reported the issue, and her landlord tried to fix it, several times, but each time the leak returned.
The water released eventually caused damp and mould to form. It entered the partition wall between the bathroom and separate toilet which resulted in the damp forming. The wall, on both sides, was wet to the touch. A bad smell was noticeable in both rooms.
Her landlord failed to undertake any proper investigation of the leak.
It was crucial that our client gave adequate notice of the disrepair or she may not have had a valid claim.
The landlord had allowed the kitchen to fall into a poor condition in general. There were several items of disrepair for which they were responsible:
The storage heaters did not function correctly;
The kitchen door was missing posing a fire risk;
There was no heat or fire detector fitted; and
The window had blown causing condensation to form around it.
Survey
As there were lots of smaller issues at the property, our client had not reported all of them. She had not even informed us of all of them prior to inspection. Her primary complaints were the leak and associated damp. These had, by far, the biggest impact upon her and her family.
At the inspection, our expert surveyor also identified:
The boiler pressure was very high requiring further specialist investigation;
The bathroom extractor fan was not functioning correctly. This contributed to the damp and mould in that room;
The seal around the bath and sink had failed. It was also contaminated by mould and required replacing;
The smoke detector in the hallway did not function correctly;
The electrical inspection was overdue on the date of the survey;
The bedroom door was missing;
The bedroom light and fan above were missing; and
The bedroom windows had blown.
Response
Our client’s landlord undertook their own inspection and could not deny the disrepair that our expert had identified.
They agreed to undertake almost all of the work. They would not replace the kitchen door as it transpired our client had removed this. A landlord is not responsible where an issue has been caused by the tenant.
Settlement
The issues with damp and mould had caused damage to our client’s mattress. The cost of a replacement was £120.00 and we recovered this in full.
Our client also accepted an offer of £1,700 in compensation. The rent at the property was quite low and so this represented a good settlement.
While the leak was the primary issue complained of, the general disrepair at the property was addressed as part of the claim and our client’s home is now suitable for her and her family.
For more information on how compensation in housing disrepair claims is calculated, read our introductory guide: https://www.mjvlaw.co.uk/legal-news/housing-disrepair-compensation/
by MJV&Co
Notice is often the point of dispute in a housing disrepair claim.
Disrepair
Part of the test to assess whether a potential client is likely to have a claim for housing disrepair is that their home is in a poor condition due to their landlord failing to undertake repairs that are their responsibility.
We will not go into this in any detail in this article as we will be writing in the near future on what is meant by disrepair and what type of issues typically fall under the landlord’s obligations.
Notice
The second part of the test is that the tenant has given their landlord sufficient notice. The disrepair or defect must be brought to their attention. If, having received notice of disrepair for which the landlord is responsible, they fail to carry out repairs within a reasonable time, you are likely to have a good claim for housing disrepair.
Without the notice, a landlord is likely to agree to undertake the repairs, but not compensate you for the inconvenience and distress their failure to act has caused.
Method
Most of our clients report issues with disrepair by telephone. While many landlords are very good at keeping records and record any such reports, many do not.
We are often instructed by clients a few years after they say they first reported a particular problem and so they cannot give much information as to the date that the issue was reported. If there is no record within the evidence the landlord discloses to us, it is much more difficult for a claim to succeed as it is necessary for a tenant to give a landlord notice.
As such, we recommend, whether you are intending to bring a claim or not, you should always report any disrepair by e-mail. You will then have a written record of the date and time of each report as well as the contents of each complaint. You can refer back to this for years to come.
Nobody knows whether their landlord will act responsibly for if they will fail in their duty towards them. As such, you should always proceed cautiously.
External Disrepair
It is not necessary for a tenant to report items of disrepair to the exterior of the property. These are discoverable without the landlord gaining entry to the property. However, where the external disrepair gives rise to internal problems (such as if there are issues with the pointing at the property allowing water to enter) then the issues affecting the inside must still be reported.
Constructive Notice
If there has been an inspection since an internal problem first showed, provide it was discoverable by the naked eye, the landlord can be considered to have constructive notice.
However, while a tenant may say that it was discoverable, landlords are likely to deny this and so deny that nootice has been served.
The Importance
A claim for housing disrepair compensation cannot succeed unless a tenant can prove that notice was given to the landlord.
The damages you receive will be calculated based on the period from the date a reasonable landlord would have completed the repairs having received notice. More can be found on how compensation is calculated here: https://www.mjvlaw.co.uk/legal-news/housing-disrepair-compensation/
Just in case you ever need to bring such a claim, always report issues by e-mail and always save those e-mails. You will, hopefully, never need them, but you will be glad you followed this advice if you do.
by MJV&Co
There are some cases where Councils and Housing Associations are able to legitimately argue that they have acted reasonably, but this was not one of them. Our client endured an internal leak for 5 years before an internal ceiling collapsed. His landlord then failed to repair the resulting damage for another 2 years.
Internal leak
In 2013, our client noticed that there was a wet patch forming on the ceiling of a downstairs toilet. He tried to clean it, but this did not work and so he reported it to his landlord.
They investigated and claimed that there was not a problem for which they were responsible.
The damp got worse and it became clear to our client that there was a leak coming from somewhere within the property. He reported this numerous times, but his landlord continued to deny liability.
In late 2018, the ceiling of the downstairs toilet collapsed. Our client reported this as an emergency and, five years after first reporting the problem and being told that it was not his landlord’s issue, the inspector undertook a proper investigation and concurred with our client. There was an internal leak and there had been for, at least, five years.
Work was undertaken and the leak was fixed.
Making Good
Following a repair, there is often damage. This can be to flooring, plaster and so forth. Repairing this resulting damage is known as ‘making good’ and what is required varies case by case.
In this matter, the ceiling in the downstairs toilet had collapsed and there was wider water damage to that room and the rooms around it. It fell under the landlord’s repairing obligations to make the damage good and to decorate.
Having repaired the leak, the landlord’s agent confirmed that someone would be back to make good. Having heard nothing for some time, our client called his landlord and asked that the work be undertaken as soon as possible. Unfortunately, nobody came.
Our client continued to report the problems he had been left with, but his landlord missed appointments to inspect the problem or failed to even agree to send someone.
Our Instructions
Our client contacted us for help and we agreed to bring his claim on a no win no fee basis.
We presented the claim to his landlord and they undertook an inspection. They admitted their breaches of their repairing obligations and agreed to undertake certain repairs. We advised our client that we were unhappy with what they were proposing and so we sent our own expert to carry out an inspection.
He agreed with our client. His landlord’s Schedule of Works was inadequate and he provided his own, which was far more comprehensive.
Following an exchange of views with his landlord, faced with the threat of court proceedings if they failed to agree to our proposal, they agreed to carry out our expert’s advised course of action. They completed those works, returning the client’s home to the condition it should always have been in.
Compensation
We were able to settle the claim for £2,800. Despite the problem going on for around 7 years, the rent at the property was low.
For more information on how compensation is generally calculated, read our article on this subject: https://www.mjvlaw.co.uk/legal-news/housing-disrepair-compensation/
The most important thing with any claim is ensuring that our client’s home is returned to a good condition. However, compensation for the inconvenience, distress and displeasure caused by an issue such as living with a collapsed ceiling, is a close second.
by MJV&Co
We are often asked by clients how much compensation they will receive if their claim succeeds.
Unlike personal injury claims, where the Judicial College Guidelines serve as a guide, there is no such tool in housing disrepair claims.
General Damages / Compensation
General damages are more commonly referred to as compensation. They serve to compensate the tenant for the inconvenience, discomfort and distressed caused to them through their landlord’s breach of their repairing obligations.
The most commonly used method of assessing damages is as a reduction in the rental value of the property.
Take a property was comprised of 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 living room and 1 kitchen. If it was let for £100 per week and the disrepair complained of materially affected 1 of the bedrooms, the bathroom and the living room, it would affect 50% of the rooms. Using a very simplistic approach, that would mean the compensation would be £50 per week, being half of the £100 per week rent.
This is paid for the period from when a reasonable landlord would have completed the repairs to the date the landlord of our client did so.
If, in this example, the landlord undertook the repairs 50 weeks after they should have, the tenant would receive compensation of £2,500.
Special Damages
Special damages can be considered your out of pocket expenses. You are entitled to recover any money that you have paid as a result of the problems for which your landlord was responsible.
There is no finite list of these, but you must be able to prove your loss and so receipts should always be kept.
Examples of Special Damages in Housing Disrepair Claims
Cleaning costs;
Loss of earnings (such as if you have had to take time off work to meet the landlord’s agents and they have not attended the appointment);
Additional heating costs or the costs of a dehumidifier when trying to dry out the property;
The cost of alternative accommodation if your property was uninhabitable for any time;
The cost of repair, cleaning and redecoration (provided these are costs incurred personally and the work was not undertaken at the landlord’s expense);
Travel costs;
Medical costs; or
The cost of dining out (such as if food storage or cooking facilities have been damaged).
by MJV&Co
Background – Damp and Mould
Our client moved into a new home in August 2017. Shortly afterwards she noticed damp and mould in the bathroom and reported this to her landlord.
As is often the case, she was told to clean it herself and no inspection was undertaken.
Over the next few months, the problem spread to the hallway, living room and two bedrooms. She reported the problems again, but no inspection was carried out. At a routine inspection, she pointed out the problems and the surveyor agreed that there was a problem that necessitated further enquiries. However, it still took several months for someone to attend the property.
Inadequate repairs – Damp and mould
Eventually, her landlord’s agent attended the property and inspected the damp. They removed the plaster from the walls and applied a treatment to prevent the damp returning in the hallway and living room. However, he did nothing to treat the issues in the bathroom and bedrooms.
Our client contacted her landlord again to request that they send someone back to solve the problems in the other rooms, but they failed to do so.
Claim
Our client contacted us in September 2019. We agreed to help her on a no win no fee basis.
Such claims have rules for how they are to be conducted and having followed these, we instructed an expert surveyor who attended the property to carry out a joint inspection with a surveyor on behalf of her landlord.
At the inspection, the cause of the disrepair was identified. There was a concrete slab that was acting as a bridge for water to pass onto the plaster causing the damp and mould. The correct repairs were agreed between the surveyors and our client’s landlord arranged for these works to be completed within a few weeks of the inspection.
In addition to having her home repaired and decorated where required, our client’s claim settled for more than £1,000 in compensation.
by MJV&Co
Housing Disrepair Case Study
Our client contacted us in September 2019 to obtain free legal advice about her potential claim for housing disrepair.
Background
In around November 2018, a leak from the flat above caused water to enter our client’s property. The leak persisted for some time and damp and mould began to form.
Our client reported the problem to her landlord, who were also the landlord to the tenant of the property above, and they attended to carry out an inspection. They failed to carry out the checks that were needed and denied that they were responsible for fixing the problem.
Due to the leak, which our client was aware of, she was not happy with the response but did not know her legal position and so accepted the response and continued to live with the problem.
After almost a year of living in damp, mouldy and wet conditions, our client contacted us for help.
Claim
Sadly, it is often the case that landlords, including councils and housing associations, fail to undertake repairs even when they are aware that it is their legal obligation to do so.
We sent a letter of claim setting out the legal position and, in response, the landlord agreed to undertake the necessary repairs and to decorate the rooms that had been affected. They also agreed to compensate her £1,500 for the inconvenience she suffered.
If you live in a property that has been affected by a disrepair issue and your landlord has not done what they should, call us on 01253 858231 or e-mail michael.vincent@mjvlaw.co.uk for a no obligation, free consultation.
by MJV&Co
The COVID-19 pandemic affects everybody. Whether you or someone you know is infected with the virus or not, it will have an impact on your life in some way. That could be on your job, your income, your health or simply your inability to leave the house.
It will, of course, have an effect upon landlords and tenants.
New issues
If you are living in a property and you encounter a problem, you should report this to your landlord in the usual way.
Most councils and housing associations continue to function albeit with some staff being furloughed and or working from home meaning that their ability to respond is reduced. As always, we recommend reporting any issues by telephone but following this up with an e-mail. This way, you have a written record of you reporting the issue. Some landlords fail to keep full records and this causes our clients problems where they cannot prove that an issue has been reported.
If the issue is urgent, such as a leak of some sort, or it could pose a threat to the health and safety of anybody in the property, your landlord is still able to undertake an inspection despite the restrictions on movement. This is because them carrying out an inspection and then undertaking repairs is urgent and thus essential.
If the issue is not urgent or a threat to health and safety, it is likely that your landlord will not carry out an inspection until the restrictions have been lifted.
Reasonable time
Your landlord is required to carry out any repairs within a reasonable time.
In normal times, this involves them carrying out an inspection, normally we would expect this to take place within a week, and, having identified the problem, repair it promptly. We would expect, depending on the level of urgency, this to take place within around 28 days of the date that the issue was first reported. This is not set in stone and is only intended to be a general guide.
As non-urgent inspections are not currently possible, the clock for what can be considered reasonable cannot be considered to be ticking. Instead, that clock will start once the restrictions that are preventing inspections in housing disrepair claims are lifted.
Existing issues
Where disrepair was reported to a landlord prior to the restrictions being put in place, it will depend on when the issues were reported as to whether the reasonable period can be considered to be paused or ongoing.
For example, if you reported an issue in January and your landlord has not carried out an inspection or undertaken the repairs, it is quite clear that they had failed the reasonableness test before the restrictions were put in place on 23 March 2020. In these circumstances, a reasonable landlord would have undertaken and completed the work long before COVID-19 caused the lock down and so, despite the restrictions, the current time would count towards the relevant period for the purposes of housing disrepair compensation claims.
If, however, it was reported just a few days before 23 March 2020, it is likely that a landlord would be able to plead that they did not have a reasonable opportunity to undertake an inspection prior to lock down.
Claims
At MJV Solicitors, we remain open for business. Like all responsible businesses in our industry, our office is closed but our key staff are working from home and contactable in the usual ways.
We are still helping clients with their housing disrepair claims. There are delays to all cases where we are not yet in receipt of an expert witness surveyor’s report, but we will resolve this as soon as it is considered safe to instruct a surveyor to attend other people’s homes.
If you believe you may have a housing disrepair claim against a landlord who is a housing association or council, there is no benefit in waiting to present the claim. Landlords are entitled to a period of 20 working days or roughly four weeks to respond to a letter of claim and so, hopefully, the COVID-19 pandemic will be under control by then enabling us to instruct an expert while followig whatever regulations are in force at that time regarding social distancing.
Call us today on 01253 858231 or e-mail michael.vincent@mjvlaw.co.uk if you would like to know more.
by MJV&Co
Our client approached us because she had been complaining to her landlord for around six months.
Her home suffered from various problems:
The plaster in many rooms was cracked and falling away from the walls;
There were cracks around several windows;
Some of the windows had failed and the seals had degraded causing drafts and leaks;
There were issues with mould, damp and condensation;
The toilet was broken; and
There were cracked and damaged tiles in the kitchen.
Landlord’s Failure
As is often so, her landlord inspected her property but did nothing else. They made promises that they did not keep and did not undertake any repairs as they should have.
Our Involvement
Our client grew frustrated at the conditions she was living in and instructed us to help her. We did so on a no win no fee basis as we do with all the housing disrepair clients whose claims we accept.
We presented the claim to her landlord and started the process as soon as she had completed her paperwork.
Sadly, her landlord ignored us as well. We instructed one of the country’s leading housing disrepair surveyors who inspected the property and produced a report. This confirmed that there was substantial disrepair that was the landlord’s responsibility. Once they received the report, they initially denied any wrong doing, but using our expertise and experience, we were able to prove them wrong.
Settlement
We were able to negotiate an agreement that our client was happy with. She was well compensated and now lives in a home free from damp, falling plaster and other disrepair that no tenant should have to endure
Your Claim
If you recognise any of the problems discussed in this housing disrepair case study and are the tenant in a council or housing association property, call us today on 01253 858231 or e-mail info@mjvlaw.co.uk for your no obligation consultation.
We offer a no win no fee service and are experts in our field.
