What you need to know
North Wales Housing is aware that some of our residents are being approached by Disrepair Claim Companies who want access to your property. They will tell you that your home is in need of repair and encourage you to put in a claim against North Wales Housing, but not inform you of all the risks.
What is a dis-repair?
Disrepair is when we have failed to repair works that are our responsibility after you have notified us in line with the terms of your tenancy agreement.
Be aware
These companies want to make money from you. One of our residents who went to court has gone from hoping for a pay-out to being faced with thousands of pounds of debt.
North Wales Housing wants to raise awareness amongst residents, we want to protect you from being exposed to this and to let you know what happens if you claim and how that claim affects us.
What you need to know
Disrepair claim companies use a legal scheme that was introduced to protect tenants from poor landlords. These companies want to make money from you and your home, and you need to know the facts in case they approach you.
Disrepair claims can take up to two years to resolve and this is very likely to cause inconvenience to you.
It is common for a Disrepair solicitor who is ‘acting’ on your behalf to advise you not to allow North Wales Housing to carry out any repairs while the claim is ongoing. As your landlords, we want to complete repairs in your home and we will make attempts to do this. Failure to give us access could weaken your case. Where health and safety is at risk, we will enforce our right to enter to inspect with a court injunction.
Please remember, we want to work with you as our resident and provide you with safe, well maintained homes.
Once you have put forward a claim and signed documentation from a solicitor, very rarely will the solicitor allow you to change your mind and stop the claim. They will advise you that if you want to stop the claim, you will be liable for:
- Charges for the survey they have arranged, which can be up to £1,000
- Credit agreement charges of over £500 for “no win, no fee’ to cover legal cost insurance.
If the case goes to court and is dismissed, the legal costs will be issued to you as a County Court Judgement (CCJ). It is common the Disrepair Solicitors fail to advise you of this risk.
Any agreement with these companies can put you at financial risk.
What happens if you claim for disrepair?
A surveyor working on behalf of North Wales Housing will visit your home to do a survey. This will check for any repair works required and highlight anything that needs to be done.
From the survey, if work has been identified as being our responsibility, we will raise the work order to complete the work. In addition, we will check these repair orders have been reported to us and you have used the complaints process in line with the tenancy agreement. If you haven’t, typically we will defend the claim on the basis that no disrepair has occurred.
In Court, North Wales Housing’s surveyors will be seen as expert witnesses; this means that they also have a duty to the court.
Our surveyor will also check if we need to charge you for any property damage during your tenancy.
You will need to provide us with access to your home to carry out a survey in the event of any claim you make against us.
How Disrepair claims affect us
A disrepair claim is extremely costly for us to go to court and defend cases, therefore the more that we spend to defend cases, the less we have for repairs, improvements and other services.
Please be aware we will strongly defend any case brought against us and we will deal with disrepair claims promptly.
Further information
If you feel you do have repairs at the home that need carrying out, it is your obligation under the tenancy agreement to report them to us. If you are ever unhappy with the maintenance of your home or the repair services we provide, you should contact us in the first instance to support you.
If you need to log a new repair, have any concerns or require further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01492 572727.
