Have you reported necessary housing improvements to your landlord or local council? Did they fail to address the issues in a reasonable timeframe? If your landlord or local council fails to carry out improvements, this could lead to you living in disrepair. Provided that you suffered as a result of their negligence, you could be entitled to claim compensation if you can prove third-party liability. So, what are tenants’ rights to compensation for improvements?
In this guide, we’ll explore how grounds for a claim could be established and how our panel of personal injury lawyers could help you achieve the maximum settlement for your claim.
Our panel all work on a No Win No Fee basis, meaning if your claim is unsuccessful, you won’t have to cover their fees. This way, there’s a reduced financial risk involved in funding a solicitor.
For a free consultation with one of our specialist advisors today, please use one of the following contact options:
- Call us on 0161 696 9685
- Complete a contact form on our website
- Chat to us using the pop-up on your screen
Select A Section
- A Guide To Social Housing Tenants’ Right To Compensation For Improvements
- What Compensation Could Social Housing Tenants Be Awarded?
- Social Housing Repairs Compensation Calculator
- What Are Tenants’ Rights To Compensation For Improvements?
- Do You Need Permission To Carry Out Improvements And Repairs?
- What Could Happen If You Did Not Get Permission?
- What Improvements Qualify For Compensation?
- Do Private And Social Housing Tenants’ Rights To Compensation For Improvements Differ?
- Is There A Time Limit To Claim Compensation For Improvements?
- No Win No Fee Compensation For Improvements Carried Out To Social Housing By A Tenant
- Talk To Our Specialist Team
- More Information On Tenants’ Rights
A Guide To Social Housing Tenants’ Rights To Compensation For Improvements
Welcome to our claims guide, where we’ll explore what tenants’ rights to compensation for improvements are. From personal injury to financial damage, you could be entitled to claim for any suffering that you experienced as a result of third-party negligence.
In this guide, we’ll discuss how grounds for compensation could be established. To do so, we’ll provide information about relevant legislation and the duty of care between a landlord or local council and their tenant. Furthermore, we’ll discuss how to determine how much you could be entitled to using our personal injury compensation calculator table.
Next, we’ll explain how you could take steps to secure the payout that you deserve, including what time limits you must heed and how a No Win No Fee agreement could benefit you.
Finally, we’ll provide details of how you can get in touch with us today for a free consultation about your case. If our team of specialist advisors believe you could have grounds to claim, they can connect you to our panel of personal injury lawyers to handle your case.
If you have any questions over the course of our guide or you’d like to see whether you could claim, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. In the meantime, please read on to learn more about tenants’ rights to compensation for improvements.
What Compensation Could Social Housing Tenants Be Awarded?
For tenants in England, it’s important to note that whether you rent privately, from a local council or from a housing association, the law protects you in the same way. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 was introduced to help ensure that tenants’ properties were maintained to a safe standard, without posing any serious hazards or health risks.
If properties aren’t ‘fit for human habitation’, irresponsible landlords can be held accountable for their negligence under this law. Some examples include:
- Unstable structure
- Serious damp or mould problem
- Unsafe layout
- Insufficient natural light
- Poor ventilation
- Issues with hot or cold water supply
- Problems with drainage or sanitation
- Lack of sufficient area to cook or wash up
- Asbestos
- Carbon monoxide
- Lead
- Radiation
- Gas leaks
- Overcrowding
- The threat of easy entry by intruders
- Poor domestic hygiene or pest problem
- Excessive noise
- Unsafe baths, showers, stairs or steps
- Electrical hazards
- Fire safety issues
- Physical strain from the use of fixtures or fittings
If these issues have been reported but not acted upon within a reasonable timeframe, actions can be taken to make landlords carry out repairs. In the meantime, you can report them to your local council to see if they can help with repairs sooner. In addition, landlords can be made to pay compensation for their tenants’ subsequent suffering.
There are some circumstances that the Homes Act wouldn’t apply to, however. Some of these include:
- Issues resulting from tenants’ behaviour, such as irresponsible or illegal actions
- Damage beyond the landlord’s control, such as flooding or fire
- Repairs needed for possessions not included in the inventory, such as your furniture
In addition to seeking compensation for housing disrepair, you could also be able to claim for any subsequent suffering that you experienced, ranging from physical and psychological damage to financial losses. To learn more about personal injury claims, please read on or get in touch today for a free consultation.
Social Housing Repairs Compensation Calculator
Are you wondering how much compensation you could claim for personal injury?
In the table below, we’ve included some example compensation brackets from the Judicial College Guidelines. These are used as guidance when calculating compensation for personal injury and are based on payouts awarded in past cases.
| What's the issue? | How could it effect you? | What could you be awarded? |
|---|---|---|
| Chest Injuries | Damage to heart with serious, prolonged pain and permanent, significant scarring. Or total removal of one lung. | (a) £94,470 - £140,870 |
| Chest Injuries | Injuries causing collapsed lungs but the claimant recovers fully. | (f) £2,070 - £5,000 |
| Burns covering 40% or more of the body | The awards for burns can include consideration of psychological impact and any physical disability. | In excess of £98,380 |
| Asthma | From mild asthma or chest problems to severe and disabling. | (a to e) Up to £61,710 |
| Psychiatric damage | This could include consideration for how long sleep was affected for as well as daily activities. | (d) Less severe: £1,440 - £5,500 |
| PTSD | For a specific diagnosis of a reactive psychiatric disorder. | Post-traumatic stress disorder can attract awards of between £3,710 and £7,680 at the lower end up to £56,180 - £94,470 at it's most severe. |
In order to be able to claim for any personal injuries, you must be able to prove your suffering. This can be achieved by undergoing a medical assessment with an independent expert. Here, they’ll assess everything from the extent of your suffering to the impact on your overall quality of life. If you claim with our panel of personal injury lawyers, they’ll organise all of this for you.
As part of your claim, you could also recover any financial losses that your personal injury resulted in, such as:
- Medical expenses (such as prescription fees)
- Travel fees (covering trips for injury-related appointments)
- Care costs (from both professional carers and loved ones)
- Private treatment (not provided by the NHS)
- Domestic help (such as the cost of a cleaner)
For a free consultation and an estimate of how much you could be entitled to claim, please speak to one of our specialist advisors today. Alternatively, please read on to learn more about tenants’ rights to compensation for improvements.
What Are Tenants’ Rights To Compensation For Improvements?
In some cases, your landlord may fail to act upon a complaint within a reasonable timeframe, leaving your living space to fall into disrepair. If you find yourself in this situation, you may decide to carry out repairs yourself in order for an essential problem to be fixed.
Some examples of housing issues that you may have felt the need to act upon yourself could include:
- No hot water or a gas leak from a broken boiler
- A leak from a poorly maintained roof
- Faulty fire or carbon monoxide alarms
- Pest problems such as a rat infestation
- Risk of intruders entering the property
- Problems with drainage or sanitation
- Unstable structure of the property
- Poor ventilation causing serious damp or mould
In addition to the inconvenience that these issues could cause you, they could also pose a risk to your health. If you’ve suffered physically or mentally as a result of your housing disrepair and can prove that your landlord’s negliegnce was to blame, you could have grounds to make a personal injury claim. Please get in touch today to learn more about your rights.
Do You Need Permission To Carry Out Improvements And Repairs?
Improvements refer to any changes that you make to your rental property. They can be minor, such as installing a new set of blinds, or major, such as building an extension.
In most cases, landlords don’t have to make improvements to their properties unless it poses a health and safety risk. However, depending on your relationship with them, they could agree to your suggested improvements or even help fund them.
Generally, you must seek your landlord’s written permission before carrying out any improvements or repairs on their property. Similarly, if your property is provided by your local council or a housing association, the best point of contact would be your housing officer. They’re typically responsible for overseeing all aspects of the property and your tenancy in it, from rent through to repairs.
To learn more about the potential risks of carrying out improvements without permission, please read on.
What Could Happen If You Did Not Get Permission?
Requests to carry out improvements on your rental property may be refused by your landlord for a number of reasons:
- Safety concerns – the work could give rise to hazards
- Expensive – the work could give rise to other issues that would need to be paid for in future
- Unattractive – the work could make the property difficult to rent in future
- Time-consuming – the work could take longer than your agreed tenancy period
- Unnecessary – the work could already be in preparation as part of a wider project
If you make improvements without permission, you could risk being charged to reverse them. Alternatively, you could even risk eviction without receiving your deposit back if the improvements you made breached your tenancy agreement.
What Improvements Qualify For Compensation?
As mentioned above, housing disrepair could not only cause you inconvenience but could also pose a risk to your health. In addition, we’ve included some other examples of what you could potentially claim for after suffering as a result of your landlord’s negligence.
For example, if you had a build-up in your gutter as a result of poor maintenance, this could cause a leak. Any damage to your own personal possessions affected by this leak could be claimed for, such as the cost of repairs or replacements. These could include:
- Clothes, including shoes and accessories
- Technology, such as TVs, phones and laptops
- Soft furnishings, such as rugs, curtains and cushions
- Furniture, such as sofas, tables and chairs
In order to help prove any damage, you should try and retain any bills, receipts or invoices evidencing your purchase. In addition, photographs of the damage itself can help. Some other ways that you could evidence your claim could include:
- Copies of written correspondence with your landlord about the improvements or repairs
- A doctor’s note or a medical report from an independent expert detailing how the issue has affected you
- Copies of your tenancy agreement or proof you paid rent to your landlord
- Reports from any professionals you paid to investigate the issue, such as electricians or a member of environmental health
Do Private And Social Housing Tenants’ Rights To Compensation For Improvements Differ?
As mentioned above, you should seek your landlord’s written permission before carrying out any improvements or repairs on their property. This is regardless of whether they’re a private landlord, local council or housing association.
However, in turn, your landlord owes you a duty of care as their tenant. Under the Homes Act, they must take reasonable steps to ensure that their properties are maintained to a safe standard, without posing any serious hazards or health risks.
Ultimately, if properties aren’t ‘fit for human habitation’, irresponsible landlords can be held accountable for their negligence under this law.
Is There A Time Limit To Claim Compensation For Improvements?
In general, if you are seeking compensation for repairs, you can start a claim during your tenancy or up to 6 years after it ends. However, if you’re seeking personal injury compensation for any suffering you experienced as a result of your landlord’s negligence, you generally have just 3 years.
You could make a personal iniury claim on behalf of a child by acting as their litigation friend. Otherwise, the 3-year time limit doesn’t apply to minors until they turn 18.
It’s similar for those lacking the mental capacity to make legal proceedings, in that a litigation friend could act on their behalf. However, the 3-year time limit will come into effect once they regain mental capacity.
To see whether you’re within the time limit for your case, why not speak to one of our specialist advisors today? They offer free consultations, providing information on tenants’ rights to compensation. What’s more, they could even connect you to our panel of specialist solicitors that all work on a No Win No Fee basis. To learn more about these agreements, please read on.
No Win No Fee Compensation For Improvements Carried Out To Social Housing By A Tenant
A No Win No Fee agreement is a type of contract between a claimant and their lawyer. As stated in the name, there is no fee to pay your lawyer if they don’t win your claim. This way, any financial risk involved in the claims process is minimised.
Some other benefits of using this type of agreement include no upfront solicitor fees upon hiring your lawyer and no running solicitor fees as your case proceeds.
Instead, you’ll only have to pay a success fee if your lawyer wins your case to account for their services. This success fee is legally capped to ensure that it remains low, meaning you walk away with the compensation that you deserve.
To learn more about the No Win No Fee service offered by our panel of personal injury lawyers, please get in touch today for a free consultation. You can find contact details in the next section.
Talk To Our Specialist Team
Our panel of personal injury lawyers could help you achieve the maximum settlement that you deserve. In addition, as they work on a No Win No Fee basis, if your claim is unsuccessful, you won’t have to cover the cost of their services. This way, there’s a reduced financial risk involved in funding a solicitor’s services.
For a free consultation with one of our specialist advisors today, please use one of the following contact options and see how we can help you:
- Call us on 0161 696 9685
- Complete a contact form on our website
- Chat to us using the pop-up on your screen
More Information On Tenants’ Rights To Compensation For Improvements
To conclude our guide on tenants’ rights to compensation for improvements, we’ve provided further resources, including some of our alternative guides:
- Council housing claims guide
- Guide to claiming against your landlord
- How to claim for injuries caused by a broken chair
- Government information on private tenants’ rights
- Citizens Advice on the right to repair scheme
- How to claim through the Housing Ombudsman
Thank you for reading our guide on tenants’ rights to compensation for improvements.
Page by FS
Published by AS