Landlord Disrepair Claim Compensation UK Guide

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets out a clear, non-negotiable list. Your landlord must maintain the structure and exterior of the property, including walls, roof, windows, and drains. They must also keep in working order the installations for heating, hot water, gas, electricity, and sanitation.

Put simply: if the boiler breaks, the damp is spreading through a wall, the roof leaks, or the electrics are unsafe, that is your landlord's problem to fix.

What Section 11 does not cover is wear and tear, cosmetic issues, or repairs caused by your own misuse of the property. A scuffed skirting board is not a disrepair claim. A ceiling that's collapsing because of an unrepaired roof leak is.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 and Awaab's Law have added further pressure on landlords to act quickly, particularly where damp and mould create a health hazard (Letavo, 2026). Under Awaab's Law, landlords in the private rented sector now face strict timelines to investigate and fix hazards. Delay on their part strengthens your claim, not weakens it.

For a broader look at what landlords are and aren't allowed to do, the article UK Tenant Rights: Spot Landlord Violations covers the most common breaches in detail.

The compensation available in a disrepair claim comes in two forms: an order for repairs and financial damages.

The court can require your landlord to carry out the repairs. Separately, it can award you damages for the period during which the disrepair affected your life. The calculation typically takes into account your rent, the severity of the disrepair, and how long it lasted (Shelter England, 2026).

A common method is to award a percentage reduction of the rent for the affected period. If your monthly rent is £1,200 and the disrepair is assessed as affecting 30% of your use and enjoyment of the property, you could be looking at a £360 per month deduction. Over 12 months, that is £4,320.

You can also claim for damage to belongings. If damp ruined your furniture or clothing, those costs can be included. If the disrepair caused a personal injury, for example a fall on a broken stair or a respiratory illness from mould, the damages can be substantially higher.

The Housing Disrepair Calculator (2023) offers an online tool that estimates potential compensation based on your rent, severity, and duration, which can be useful before you commit to a formal claim.

The key variable is always how long you gave your landlord to fix the problem and whether they ignored you. Courts expect tenants to give reasonable notice. Once you've reported the issue and a reasonable time has passed without action, your claim becomes much stronger.

Most disrepair claims fail not because the underlying problem wasn't real, but because tenants couldn't prove they told their landlord about it.

Report every issue in writing. Text messages are better than a phone call. An email is better than a text. A formal letter citing Section 11 and giving a specific repair deadline is best of all.

Your report should: describe the problem precisely, state when it started, reference any previous reports, and set a deadline for a response. Two weeks is a reasonable starting point for non-emergency repairs. For no heating in winter or a gas leak, you can reasonably expect same-day action.

Keep a log. Take dated photographs of the disrepair from the first day you notice it. Save every message and response. If you have to call the letting agent, follow it up immediately with a written message summarising what was said.

If your landlord doesn't respond or refuses to repair, the next step is a formal letter before action. This is a legal letter that states you intend to take the matter to court unless repairs are carried out within a specified period. Remedy Legal can draft this for you: the platform generates formal letters citing the relevant legislation, and many landlords act once they receive one. Remedy's letter drafting feature produces letters reviewed for legal accuracy, so you're not guessing at the right wording.

For a step-by-step on generating this kind of letter, see How to Generate a Legal Letter to Your Landlord UK.

You have three main routes once informal contact has failed.

Report to your local council. Environmental health officers can inspect the property and issue an improvement notice or even a prohibition order. This costs you nothing and creates an official record. The council acts independently of your landlord, so you don't need to worry about retaliation during this process.

Use the Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman. From 2026, all private landlords in England are required to join a redress scheme. If your landlord is a member, the Ombudsman can investigate your complaint and order compensation without the case going to court. More detail on how to use this route is in the article Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman Complaints.

Take court action. Citizens Advice recommends this route where landlords refuse to carry out repairs, noting that courts can both order repairs and award compensation (Citizens Advice, 2026). You would typically use the County Court, and for claims under £10,000 the small claims track keeps costs manageable. The court filing process is covered in N208 Form Part 8 Claim Tenant Landlord UK Guide.

The route you choose depends on urgency, the value of your claim, and how much documentation you have. Remedy Legal's Negotiation Dashboard uses data from similar past cases to give you an estimated claim value, a success probability, and a recommendation on whether to settle quickly or go to tribunal. That kind of data-backed steer is hard to get without expensive legal advice.

No win no fee arrangements are common in housing disrepair cases. The theory is straightforward: the solicitor takes a percentage of your winnings if you win, and nothing if you lose. In practice, the picture is more complicated.

Some no win no fee firms take 25-40% of your compensation. If you're awarded £3,000, you might net £1,800. Others have success fees, after-the-event insurance premiums, and exit clauses buried in the contract. The article No win no fee: the good, the bad, and the ugly covers the main things to check before signing anything.

The alternative is to handle more of the process yourself, with the right tools. Remedy Legal's top tier offers human expert support on a no win no fee basis, starting at 10% of winnings. That is considerably less than most solicitors charge, and the platform handles the documentation work that would otherwise eat up hours of your time.

For lower-value claims or cases where the landlord is likely to settle once they receive a formal letter, the £40 one-time tier gives you full platform access including court bundle generation, tribunal filing support, and expert letter templates. You keep all of the compensation.

The right choice depends on your claim's complexity. For clear-cut disrepair with good documentation, you may not need a solicitor at all.

Awaab's Law was originally passed for social housing following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from mould exposure in a Rochdale flat. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 extended its core requirements to the private rented sector.

From 2026, private landlords face specific investigation and repair timelines for hazards including damp, mould, and unsafe conditions. A landlord who receives a formal complaint about mould and fails to inspect within the required window is not just being unresponsive. They are in breach of a statutory duty.

This matters for disrepair claims because it makes the landlord's obligation and timeline explicit. Where previously you had to argue that "a reasonable time" had passed, Awaab's Law sets the clock more precisely. A landlord who receives written notice of a health hazard and does nothing within the prescribed period has clearly breached their duty, which strengthens both the repair order and the damages part of your claim.

For a fuller breakdown of what private tenants can claim under this legislation, see Awaab's Law: What Private Renters Can Claim.

If your disrepair involves damp, mould, or any condition affecting your health, document everything now: photographs with timestamps, a GP letter if you've had any health symptoms, and every piece of correspondence with your landlord. This is your evidence base.

Remedy Legal is an AI-powered platform built for UK tenants. It is not a law firm, and it doesn't pretend to be. What it does is give you the tools and information to handle a landlord disrepair claim without paying hundreds of pounds an hour for a solicitor to tell you what you could find out in twenty minutes.

Start with a free instant assessment. You share the key details of your situation and Remedy gives you a clear read on your legal position, what you're likely owed, and what steps to take. No credit card required.

If you have a tenancy agreement, upload it. The platform extracts key terms, flags any issues with repair clauses, and gives you advice specific to your contract.

The landlord assessment tool checks compliance across property standards and deposit protection, and identifies whether you have grounds for a Rent Repayment Order as well as a disrepair claim. Sometimes disrepair and licensing violations overlap, and a single landlord can owe you money on more than one count.

For drafting correspondence, Remedy generates formal letters citing Section 11, Awaab's Law, and any other relevant legislation. These are reviewed for legal accuracy before you send them.

If your case goes further, Remedy helps you prepare a tribunal bundle: uploading and annotating evidence, tracking deadlines, and generating the final submission. The platform also supports you on the day of the tribunal.

You can start via WhatsApp if that's easier. Message Remedy directly and the AI assistant will walk you through the process.