Private Renter Secures £2,318 in Housing Disrepair Claim

Ms P and her children found themselves suffering with horrendous disrepair in their privately rented house, with a landlord who refused to make the repairs needed. She contacted the Housing Disrepair department at Pabla & Pabla Solicitors. Thankfully, we successfully brought a claim against her landlord. We forced her landlord to make the repairs, and secured Ms P a £2,318.89 settlement for the inconvenience.

Ms P rents privately in South Tyneside, in a 3-bedroom house with her three children. Since 2021, she had been complaining about dampness that had been plaguing her kitchen. The landlord briefly attempted works, but the kitchen dampness remained.

At the same time, other issues occurred throughout Ms P’s home such as electrical faults and damaged windows. The damp and damaged windows were especially hard during the winter months.

With little faith her landlord would remedy the issues, Ms P went to her local council’s Environmental Health team in 2022. They sent experts round to conduct a damp survey, which officially identified that rising damp remained in the dwelling.

When the landlord was served the report, the recommended repairs were still not completed. After multiple years of further complaints, Ms P decided to seek legal advice.

Ms P submits a Housing Disrepair claim

In February 2026, Ms P emailed us directly at Pabla & Pabla. Fee Earner and Writer, Jacob Poole spoke with her on the phone and discussed her case. Ms P had substantial evidence, including an updated survey conducted by South Tyneside Council’s Environmental Health team, as well as a plethora of pictures that showed the extent of the damage in her kitchen. With all the evidence provided, we were more than happy to support Ms P in a No Win, No Fee claim, and agreed to take her case on.

The first formal step of a Housing Disrepair claim is to submit a “letter of claim” to the landlord. This notifies them of the claim, tells them the specific issues it relates to, and gives them 20 working days to respond or make the repairs needed. When the letter of claim was received by the private landlord, they agreed to complete a technical report reviewing all the alleged issues in Ms P’s home. The report identified many of the same issues as the Environmental Health team’s survey.

After a thorough review, Ms P agreed with their findings, and a settlement was agreed in the total of £2,318.89 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the disrepair.

The landlord agreed to complete all the works identified by the Environmental Health team survey and their own technical report. This included works to the kitchen to address the damp, windows throughout the house, and making some minor but important repairs to the bathroom.

They also agreed to “decant” Ms P whilst the works to the kitchen took place and find her temporary accommodation so she would not be further inconvenienced by the substantial repairs to the kitchen. By early July 2026, just 5 months after we were contacted, Ms P confirmed that all the works that had been agreed had been completed.

Ideally it shouldn’t take a Housing Disrepair claim for a landlord to make repairs to the home their tenants are paying for – but sadly there is a massive scale of poorly maintained rental housing across the UK. If you are a private tenant living with disrepair, Pabla & Pabla Solicitors are happy to look at evidence you provide to see if we can run a claim.

Ready to begin your Housing Disrepair claim?

If your landlord is refusing to make repairs, then consider starting a Housing Disrepair claim. Now that the Renter’s Rights bill has passed, private tenants have more rights than ever!

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