Disrepair

If we don’t meet our regulatory obligations to keep your home in good repair – including completing repairs in reasonable time and keeping your sanitation, electricity, gas and water supplies in working order – your home could be said to be in disrepair.

Claims management companies target tenants, particularly tenants of social housing landlords, to encourage you to make a disrepair claim.

They are profit-making businesses that usually make up to £500 per referral (whether the claim is genuine or not). They will tell you that your home is in need of repairs and will encourage you to put in a claim against your landlord to get compensation.

They then sell your claim to a solicitor who acts as an intermediary between you and SLH, to represent you and handle the claim on your behalf, for a cost.

Our customers have reported that claims management companies have been pushy, encouraging tenants to sign documents to enter into legal contracts. We suggest that you do not allow these callers into your home or sign anything they ask you to sign.

Entering into any agreement with these companies can put you at significant financial risk.

Hidden costs

Companies will often tell you they operate on a “no win, no fee” basis. However, we’ve seen examples where our customers have faced thousands of pounds of debt as a result of signing agreements.

They usually also charge a fixed lump sum up front to take out an insurance policy to cover the cost of your claim. This lump sum can be a significant amount.

Any compensation you may receive is likely to be reduced to cover solicitor fees or legal costs (ours and yours, if the claim is unsuccessful).

Fees if you change your mind or court costs if you lose the case

When you have made a claim and signed documentation from a solicitor, you will not usually be allowed you to change your mind and stop the claim. If you do, you may be liable for:

• Charges of up to £1,000 for the survey they have arranged.
• Credit agreement charges (often over £500) for “no win, no fee” to cover legal cost insurance.
• Legal costs if your case goes to court and is dismissed. These could amount to thousands of pounds.

Time and inconvenience

Claims may take years to resolve and you may have to attend court in person to give evidence as part of the process.

You could be in breach of your tenancy

Claims management companies may advise you to not allow SLH to access your home to do any repairs while the claim is in process. This will put you in breach of your tenancy agreement.

It’s our responsibility to make sure your home is safe and well-maintained so we’ll attempt to visit your home to carry out essential safety checks. If there’s a health and safety risk, we may request a court injunction to gain urgent access to do the work.

It affects other services we provide

Defending disrepair cases is expensive. Any money we spend on these claims takes away from funding and resources for repairs, planned investment and support services like our benefits advice and tenancy support services.

If you make a claim, SLH will arrange a survey in your home. We will make a note of any repairs your home needs and check if any of these are repairs you are responsible for, or us as your landlord.

If the survey identifies repairs that are our responsibility, we’ll arrange to visit your home and do the work. We will also check to see if you have reported any of the repairs to us before, in line with your tenancy agreement.

If claims are found to be bogus or dishonest, we will rigorously defend them.