If you wish to complain about a rented property which is affecting your safety or health, you can follow these steps in order to report it to your landlord.
You must give your landlord or agent the opportunity to respond before contacting us.
If you think the problem is an imminent and significant risk to your safety, then contact your landlord or agent verbally now. If you are unhappy with their response, please contact Customer Services to report your concerns.
Before we can take any action about a property, the following steps must have been taken:
1. Inform your landlord or agent
- you must ensure that the unsatisfactory conditions you wish to complain about fall under the landlords' responsibility to repair and that the conditions are not a result of your lifestyle. Please use this tool for further advice about legal responsibility for disrepair and other concerns you may have related to your landlord or agent
- you must inform your landlord or agent, verbally and in writing listing the defects that require attention.
Use our Disrepair Letter template which you can find in the Downloads section on this page. It is important that you keep a copy of your letter for your records.
2. Contact us if still no action is taken
Once steps one and two have been taken, and the landlord or agent has not been in contact or completed the works, contact Customer Services. We can arrange for an officer to carry out an inspection of the property.
When contacting us, ensure that you provide the following information:
- your name
- your address
- your phone number
- number and ages of occupants
- name of the landlord or agent
- address of the landlord or agent
- phone number of the landlord or agent
- type of benefits, if any, you claim
- description of the property eg number of bedrooms
- date your tenancy began
- types of disrepair issues and their location eg mould growth in the bathroom
Failure to provide all the details above may delay your complaint.
Important: If you have not taken steps 1 and 2, we may not be able to take action, inspect the property or use our legal powers.
Further guidance
Please be aware that:
- you do not currently have any legal protection against eviction as a result of a complaint
- your landlord or agent will have to be made aware of the complaint
- your landlord or agent will be informed of any inspections carried out
- we can only help you; improve your current housing conditions, prevent an illegal eviction and provide advice on these matters
- we have no bearing on any application you may have for council housing.