Posted by Daniel Brito, managing director of Legal Futures Associate National Claims [1]
Brito: Most tenants do not begin by considering a claim
For many tenants, reporting a repair is the easy part. The challenge often begins afterwards.
Across England, complaints about damp, mould, leaks, faulty heating and structural problems continue to feature prominently in reports from regulators and the Housing Ombudsman.
While housing associations and private landlords also face maintenance pressures, council tenants frequently experience some of the longest waits for repairs to be completed.
This isn’t simply the result of isolated failures. It reflects the wider pressures affecting local authorities, from ageing housing stock and constrained budgets to increasing demand and changing regulatory expectations.
For legal professionals, the issue raises an important question. Why do council tenants appear to wait longer for disrepair to be resolved, and what does that tell us about the changing relationship between landlords, tenants and accountability?
According to the English Housing Survey, around 10% of social rented homes in England fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard, with damp remaining more common than in owner-occupied housing.
Those figures highlight that, despite significant investment over many years, maintaining the quality of social housing remains a major challenge.
More homes, more repairs, greater pressure
Unlike many housing providers, councils are often responsible for managing thousands of homes across large geographical areas.
Many of these properties were built several decades ago and now require more extensive maintenance than when they were first constructed. Roofing, plumbing, heating systems, windows and electrical installations all deteriorate over time, creating a constant demand for repairs.
At the same time, councils are balancing competing priorities, limited budgets and rising operational costs. Emergency repairs understandably take precedence, while less urgent work can be pushed further down waiting lists.
The result is a system where repair requests can quickly build up, particularly when contractor availability or specialist surveys add further delays.
Delays are rarely caused by one issue
It is easy to assume that slow repairs are the result of poor management alone. In reality, the reasons are often far more complex.
A single repair may involve inspections, specialist reports, contractor procurement, parts availability and access arrangements before work can even begin. Where multiple defects are identified, different contractors may become involved, extending the process further.
Modern regulation has also raised expectations around how repairs are assessed and recorded. While these safeguards are important, they can sometimes add additional stages before work is authorised.
None of this changes the experience for tenants living with unresolved problems, but it helps explain why repair delays are often the result of wider systemic pressures rather than a single point of failure.
When delays affect more than the property
The impact of prolonged disrepair extends well beyond the condition of the building itself.
The Housing Ombudsman’s It’s Not Lifestyle report challenged the long-held assumption that damp and mould are primarily caused by tenant behaviour, instead highlighting the importance of identifying underlying structural issues.
That shift has changed the conversation around housing disrepair. Poor housing conditions are now recognised as an issue affecting public health, education and wellbeing, rather than simply property maintenance.
NHS guidance also highlights that exposure to damp and mould can contribute to respiratory conditions, asthma complications and other health concerns, particularly among children, older people and those with weakened immune systems.
For many households, living with persistent damp, leaks or heating failures affects far more than physical health. It can disrupt sleep, make it difficult to work from home, increase household costs and place significant emotional strain on families over long periods.
Accountability is changing
Recent years have brought significant changes to the regulatory landscape.
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 strengthened the powers available to the Regulator of Social Housing and reinforced expectations around tenant safety and landlord performance.
Alongside this, Awaab’s Law has placed renewed focus on how quickly serious hazards should be investigated and addressed.
Together, these reforms represent a shift in expectations. The debate is no longer centred solely on whether repairs will eventually be completed, but whether landlords are responding quickly enough when serious health and safety risks are identified.
That represents a significant change for housing providers, regulators and legal professionals alike.
Why housing disrepair claims continue to grow
Against this backdrop, it is unsurprising that housing disrepair claims have become more prominent.
Most tenants do not begin by considering a claim; their first priority is usually straightforward – they want repairs completed and safe living conditions restored.
However, where problems remain unresolved despite repeated reports, questions naturally arise about accountability. It is often at this stage that a claims become part of the conversation.
As tenants look for answers to questions such as ‘Should I sue the council for poor living conditions?’ [2], and ‘How long does a housing disrepair claim take?’, it reflects a growing awareness of both tenants’ rights and landlords’ legal responsibilities.
Looking beyond repair backlogs
Reducing repair delays is unlikely to be achieved through legislation alone.
Local authorities continue to manage ageing housing stock while balancing financial pressures, workforce shortages and growing demand for repairs. At the same time, expectations around housing quality have changed significantly, driven by greater public awareness, stronger regulation and a clearer understanding of how poor housing conditions affect people’s lives.
The challenge now is not simply repairing homes more quickly but preventing problems from remaining unresolved for so long that legal action becomes a consideration.
The real measure of success for current housing reforms will not be the number of claims or compensation awards. It will be whether fewer tenants find themselves living for months or years with hazards that should have been addressed long before a claim became necessary.