Housing Disrepair Success Stories – Water Penetration and Heating Issues

We were instructed to deal with a case involving serious disrepair. The property suffered from a severe ongoing leak when there was rainfal,  as a result, rainwater penetrated and water flooded the kitchen and the electrical sockets in the property. There were also heating issues within the property leading to our client having to pay more money as she could not control the heating.

It is an implied term of the tenancy agreement, pursuant to Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 that a landlord would keep in repair the structure and the exterior of the dwelling house and the installations therein for the supply of gas, water, electricity, sanitation and space heating.

Hodge Jones & Allen prepared a detailed Letter of Claim that was sent to the landlord. In addition, instructions were prepared and sent to an independent surveyor to attend the property and provide a report on the conditions of the property.

Upon receipt of the surveyor’s report, an updated Letter of Claim was sent to the landlord. The landlord’s solicitor provided a response to our Housing Team’s letter. The landlord decided that in order to confirm if liability was admitted or not they would need to send their surveyor to the property. Our Housing Team prepared instructions and sent to an independent surveyor to attend the property and provide a report on the conditions of the property.

The landlord then provided a copy of their surveyor’s report. Following this, our Housing Team and the landlord entered conversations to agree the schedule of works.

During this time the landlord made an offer to settle and subsequently negotiations were entered into. The parties agreed upon terms of settlement including the sum of damages to be paid within 28 days from settlement and the landlord to complete the works within 120 days from the date of settlement.

If you need help with housing disrepair, you can try our housing disrepair compensation calculator or talk to our housing law specialists today. Call us on 0330 822 3451 or request a call back.