Disrepair affecting health if you have a community landlord

• Community landlords should ensure your home is not a risk to your health and safety
• You might be able to take court action to get your landlord to remove the hazards in your home
• You can complain to the ombudsman if your landlord doesn’t take your concerns seriously

 

Health & safety standards in community landlord homes

All community landlord homes must meet certain health and safety standards. If they fail to meet those standards the conditions could cause a hazard to your household.

Your home should also be fit to live in.

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

Community landlords usually measure housing conditions using the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) to assess housing conditions. 

If any of these conditions present a risk to your health and safety, your landlord should take action.

The HHSRS looks at lots of different things, including:

• damp and mould growth
• excessive cold
• overcrowding
• faulty gas boilers
• fire risks
• dangerous electrics
• the risk of falling on stairs, floors or paths leading to your home.

It covers problems in communal areas and outside spaces as well as problems inside the home.

What should I do first?

If you are worried about conditions in your home, you should first report any problems to your landlord. Most community landlords have a dedicated phone number and online service to report repairs and concerns about conditions.

It is a good idea to keep records of any correspondence. In some circumstances you may decide to write a letter. This might be appropriate if you are having difficulty getting your landlord to do the work and you’re considering making a complaint or taking court action. Use our sample letters to help you:

Repairs 1 – 1st letter to report repairs
Repairs 2 – 2nd letter to report repairs.

If you have evidence of the problem, such as photos, you can also send these to your landlord. If you are considering court action, You can find more template letters about disrepair here.

What happens next?

There are rules that your landlord must follow in dealing with conditions that present a risk to you or anyone living with you. These rules apply to all matters in the HHSRS except for overcrowding. If you are living in overcrowded conditions, find out what you can do here.

If your landlord decides that the conditions in your home present a significant risk to you or anyone living with you, they must investigate the problem within 10 working days. They must then fix the problem within a further 5 working days.

If it’s an emergency

If the problem is serious enough to be considered an emergency your landlord has 24 hours to investigate. They must fix the problem within a further 24 hours.

To be classed as an emergency means that there is an ‘assessed likelihood of imminent harm’.

There are many hazards that could be classed as an emergency. Some examples of hazards that could be an emergency are:

• gas or carbon monoxide leaks
• exposed electrical wiring
• damp and mould that is affecting your health

What if there are vulnerable people in my household?

Your landlord must take into account whether you, or anyone in your household, are vulnerable. For example, young children, older people, or people with health conditions might be at greater risk of harm from hazards in the home.

If you have vulnerable people in your household, it might be appropriate for your landlord to treat the problem as an emergency. This means they will investigate and fix the problem faster.

What if the problem can’t be fixed in time?

If your landlord can’t fix the problem/s in the correct time, they must give you a ‘summary plan’ within 5 working days. The plan should tell you:

• if the hazard in your home is an emergency
• what has been done, and what will be done, to make your home safe
• when any work is likely to start and finish.
• what is being done to minimise any risk while waiting for the work to start
• details of who to contact if you need to speak to the landlord

What if my landlord doesn’t deal with the problem?

If your landlord does not respond or deal with the problems, you can:

• use your landlord’s complaints procedure
• complain to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
• take the landlord to court yourself

Can I get help from the council’s environmental health team?

Local councils are responsible for ensuring that housing conditions meet acceptable standards. The council use the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to assess if there are hazards in your home.

If there are hazards in your home, the council has the power to require your landlord to make your home safe. This is called ‘enforcement action’. The action they can take depends on the type of community landlord you have:

If your landlord is the council

If you rent your home from the council, the environmental health can’t take formal enforcement action. Your housing officer or the environmental health department might agree to inspect your home. They can send a report or informal notice to your housing office telling them what work needs to be done.

If your landlord still won’t do the work, you can use their complaints procedure to raise the issue. If your landlord still does not resolve the problem you can complain to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

If your landlord is a housing association

If your landlord is a housing association, the environmental health department can take enforcement action against your landlord.

You can use our sample letter to ask the environmental health department to inspect your home. The inspection should happen quickly if there’s a serious risk of harm to anyone in your household.

The environmental health department can order your landlord to take action to tackle the problems in your home. They can do this by issuing:

• a hazard awareness notice – warning your landlord that the environmental health department of the council is aware of the problem
• an improvement notice – ordering your landlord to carry out certain repairs or improvements by a certain time.

If the housing association still does not resolve the problem, you can raise the issue through their complaint’s procedure.

If the problem is still not resolved, you can also complain to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

What if the environmental health team won’t help me?

If the environmental health department refuses to inspect your home or take enforcement action where needed, you can raise the issue using the council’s complaint’s procedure.

If they still refuse to help you may be able to make a complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales or by way of judicial review through the courts.

Get help from Shelter Cymru if you are considering doing any of these things.