Thank you for your enquiry with CEL Solicitors. Due to the information provided, we believe that on this occasion we are unable to continue with your claim.
You can find details on why we may decline a case below. We wish you the best of luck pursuing other avenues and hope that you will consider CEL Solicitors for any future legal or financial problems we may be able to assist you with.
Free Advice
We include below a free precedent complaint letter to your landlord for claims that we cannot take on and a link to complain directly to the Housing Ombudsman if your landlord does not respond to the letter. You can fill the letters in as a precedent to complain to your landlord and then the Housing Ombudsman online if they do not respond to you. The Housing Ombudsman can order that your repairs are completed and can order your landlord to pay you compensation if you request it. There are no fees if you are unsuccessful.
We wish you the best of luck in any complaint that you make, and we hope that your repairs are completed, and you get compensation.
Reasons for Rejection
We may reject claims for several reasons. These are set out below:
• The most likely reason we may choose not to accept a claim is that we do not think we will be successful. We do not want to waste your time or get your hopes us by advising you that you have a good case when you do not.
• We may decline a case if your repairs will cost less than £1000 to fix. In this case, we can not claim through the courts which means we can only take the same action you can by using the precedent letters below.
• Your arrears are over £3000. With such high arrears, there is a big chance your landlord will evict you if we make a claim.
• You have not reported the repairs to your landlord. You can not claim until your landlord has had a chance to carry out the repairs first. If this is the case then report them and call us back in two months if the repairs have not been completed and we will take on your claim.
• You have moved or are planning to move out. You can not claim if you will not be living in the property to allow the repairs to be completed.
• Your repairs have already been completed.
Complaining Yourself
While we are unable to accept your claim at this point, we would advise you to complain to your landlord using our precedent letter below. Complete your personal details and provide details of the repairs and how problems have affected you and then post or email it to your landlord’s complaint and/or Repairs Team. If they do not respond or carry out the repairs, then complain to the housing ombudsman via the link below attaching your previous complaint letter to your landlord and any other evidence of your claim.
Further Advice
You must report all items of disrepair to your landlord, and they will then have between 24 hours to 8 weeks to carry out the repairs. After this time, you can claim if the repairs are over £1000 to fix. If this occurs in the future, we can then help you.
You usually have 6 years in which to issue court proceedings from the date you became aware of the disrepair at the property.
We understand that this is a very distressing time for you.
Please find below websites where you can find out more information in respect of housing problems:
Housing Ombudsman
To make a complaint about your landlord and help generally
Make a complaint – Housing Ombudsman (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)
Citizens Advice
Consumer rights – Advice on repairs in rented housing.
Repairs in rented housing – Citizens Advice
Shelter
Advice on Repairs
Repairs – Shelter England
Again we are really sorry that we could not help you on this occasion and hope that you are successful in getting your repairs completed.
