NORTHWEST HOUSING DISREPAIR SPECIALIST

Free survey for social housing tenants to assess suitability for legal action

  • Have you got damp and mould or other defects affecting your rented property but your landlord has failed to act or complete the repairs properly?

  • Sections 9a and 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 allow you to take legal action against your landlord and force them to undertake repairs and remove any hazards that they are responsible for without the fear of eviction.

  • We will survey your property free of charge and if we believe you have a valid claim will refer you to a our recommended panel of solicitors.

  • The solicitors can represent you on a 'no win - no fee ‘ basis and ensure your property is a fit and safe place to live in; you may also be entitled to compensation.

  1. Tenant of a Council or Housing Association property in the Northwest.

  2. Must be living in the property.

  3. Have already reported the defects to your landlord and have waited a reasonable time for repairs but they have failed to act.

  4. Any rent arrears must be below £1000.

  5. The potential repair costs must be at least £1000; no minor stand-alone issues.

You must fit this criteria to be eligible for our free survey

Our process

  1. Complete the enquiry form on our contact page and upload photographic and/ or video evidence of your defects. Alternatively you can contact us using WhatsApp, email or through our social media accounts.

  2. We will review your enquiry and then contact you to arrange a free survey.

  3. We will undertake our survey on the appointed day and if we think you have a valid claim will refer you to one of our recommended solicitors; this involves providing you with their website and contact details for your consideration.

  4. Once you have contacted the solicitors and asked them to review your claim they will request from us the photographic and video evidence of your disrepair recorded during our survey to help them establish if your claim is legally valid. If the solicitor decides that you have a valid claim they can represent you on a ‘no win - no fee’ basis provided you meet their criteria.

  5. If you instruct the solicitor to pursue your claim they will pay us a referral fee. Our involvement in the process will end at this stage.

Our Survey

We will survey the exterior and interior of your property including the loft and garden areas looking for issues in the categories shown below. The survey is non-destructive but we will take damp readings using an electronic moisture meter. Photographs and videos of your disrepair will be recorded and used as evidence to help the solicitors review your claim .

Defects

What we look for:

Common defects include degraded brickwork and pointing, leaking pipework, rotten doors and windows, blocked drains and gutters, leaking roofs and faulty boilers - but there are many others.

Damp & Mould

What we look for:

The most common type of mould growth we encounter is black spot mould but there is also white and yellow mould; this is usually caused by condensation due to poor heating, ventilation and insulation, but can also be associated with other damp issues such as water ingress, water leaks, rising damp and contaminated plaster.

Caution: Breathing in mould spores can be detrimental to your health; this particularly affects children, the elderly and people with respiratory or other serious health issues.

Hazards

What we look for:

Common hazards include uneven surfaces, electrical defects, structural collapse, pest infestations and security issues - but there are many others.

Why choose us to assess your property for a potential housing disrepair claim?

We have acted as an expert witnesses for hundreds of housing disrepair claims and only use qualified surveyors which enables us to provide all the necessary evidence to help solicitors review your claim accurately, giving you the best chance of it being accepted.

We are only interested in referring genuine claims with significant disrepair which can be supported by strong evidence.

Unlike some other firms we do not put pressure on our clients or try to fabricate issues to make their claim.

We are not a ‘claims farmer’ and do not cold call or solicit appointments.

If you engage a claims management company or solicitors directly they don’t usually undertake an assessment survey and a decision to represent you is based on the evidence you provide which could be weak.

Our claims lead generation activities

We are not regulated by the Financial Conducts Authority (FCA) but operate under their Regulated Activates Order exclusion clause and comply with FCA guidelines in relation to our lead generation activities. We also comply with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Code of Conduct 2011 and ethics guidelines defined by our professional bodies.

All client personal data is managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

The solicitors will pay us a set referral fee for any accepted claim; these financial arrangements do not affect your claim.

A copy of our company complaints procedure and referrals policy are available upon request.

Please note: you do not need to use our company to help make your claim. You can also approach any solicitor and provide your own evidence or complain to the Housing Ombudsman.