Social Housing across the country is in dire straits. Not only are there not enough properties, but what housing stock does exist, is often out of date or in desperate need of essential repairs. Unfortunately, too many social housing properties are not fit for human habitation.
When landlords fail to make essential repairs there can be lethal consequences. This was tragically the case for two-year-old Awaab Ishak who lost his life because of damp and mould in the council flat he lived in.
At CEL Solicitors, our team sees thousands of properties every year in drastic need of repair. Whether the walls are covered in mould, the windows broken, or the ceilings cracked and leaking – many people are forced to live in inhumane housing. One social housing tenant suffered for years with disrepair which included a leak dripping directly onto his bed. Sadly, tenants are often ignored for years by their landlords and forced to submit several complaints or even take legal action to get the very minimum standard of living they should be entitled to.
To get a full picture of the state of social housing, we submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Housing Ombudsman to find out exactly how many complaints of disrepair were made each year. We were particularly interested to learn if the total number of complaints had changed for better or worse. While the data gathered doesn’t use the term “housing disrepair”, they do chart “property condition” which is the nearest match.
In the UK, social housing is divided into council housing and housing association properties. Council housing is owned by local authorities, while housing associations are not-for-profit companies that provide housing.
The housing associations with the most disrepair complaints
The table below showcases the number of “property condition” complaints against housing associations from the start of 2020 to October 2022.
Over the last few years, London and Quadrant Housing Trust, Clarion Housing Group, and Peabody Trust were consistently the housing associations with the most disrepair complaints.
London and Quadrant Housing Trust received 1,348 property condition complaints in between 2020 and October 2022. The number of complaints in 2021 jumped to 687 from 224 in 2020 – a 200% increase. The partial data for 2022 potentially indicates a small decrease in yearly property condition complaints.
Clarion Housing Group Limited is the second worst offender for property condition complaints, with 885 complaints during that time. Again, complaints increased markedly from 2020 to 2021, with 215 and 393 property condition complaints respectively. Clarion appears to have ended with a similar number of complaints in 2022.
Peabody Trust overtook Notting Hill as the housing association with the third most complaints in 2021, more than doubling from 116 to 294 property complaints. While still maintaining their third-place position in 2022, they appear to have received around 2/3 of the previous year’s complaints, which is a positive trend and hopefully indicates that they are making a greater effort to maintain properties they are responsible for.
The council housing providers with the most disrepair complaints
The table below showcases the number of “property condition” complaints against council authorities from the start of 2020 to October 2022. Council housing disrepair is a serious and common issue, leaving thousands to suffer inhumane living conditions.
Lambeth Council, Birmingham City Council, and Southwark Council consistently had the most property complaints among council housing providers.
Lambeth Council was the most complained about council housing provider. They jumped from 82 to 157 property complaints from 2020 to 2021. They were also on trend to match that number in 2022 with 138 complaints by October.
Birmingham City Council and Southwark Council consistently rank as the second and third worst council housing providers for housing disrepair. This data is in line with the findings of the CEL housing disrepair team who routinely deal with complaints against Southwark, Birmingham City and Lambeth councils.
Worst offenders according to CEL Solicitors
Over the last seven years, the housing disrepair team at CEL Solicitors has recovered more than £3.2 million in over 2,600 cases. During this time, we have brought claims against some 360 landlords up and down the country.
The list of social housing landlords we have acted against shares many similarities with the data provided during our FOI request.
Of the ten social housing providers we have acted against most often, six appear in the data provided during the FOI request. For our data, we do not differentiate between council housing providers and housing associations.
Southwark, Leeds City, Birmingham City, and Newsham Councils have the most housing disrepair complaints based on our data. These four councils receive around 25% of all housing disrepair complaints handled by CEL Solicitors’ housing disrepair team.
Commenting on the state of social housing in the UK, John Lowry, a director and head of housing disrepair at CEL Solicitors, said: “Whilst poor quality housing is prevalent across the UK, the data clearly shows that some providers have more to do to get their housing stock up to reasonable standards.
“The outliers, that are continually topping the leader board of the worst social housing providers, must do better. There is clearly a postcode lottery when it comes to social housing provision in the UK and that must stop”.
Has housing disrepair gotten better or worse?
Looking at the trends in housing over the past few years, social housing in the UK does not appear to be improving any time soon. Housing disrepair complaints have increased year on year according to the data above. In some cases, the numbers seem to have remained consistent from 2021 to 2022, however, these numbers are already far too high and represent a large part of the population who are forced to live in substandard properties.
In many cases, social housing renters suffering from disrepair have little option but to live with issues (and potentially suffer the consequences of their landlord’s inaction) or to seek support from housing disrepair solicitors.
Begin your housing disrepair claim
If your rented home requires repairs and your landlord refuses to help, you can force your landlord to act. Laws are there to protect people who live in rented homes from landlords who have failed them.
Alongside getting the repairs you are due; you can also claim compensation based on the damage and the effect the disrepair has had on your life. Our dedicated housing disrepair team is on hand to guide you through the claims process and get you the repairs and compensation you deserve. To begin your claim, call 0808 273 0900 or complete an online form and a member of our team will be in touch and will be on hand to help.
