Housing condition claims against councils rise nearly 400% in five years: report

Pabla + Pabla Solicitors submitted freedom of information requests to councils and housing associations, receiving 81 responses.

The responses suggested that:

• The volume of housing disrepair claims has risen, on average, 392% in the last five years.
• Councils and housing associations spend, on average, 427% more on housing disrepair-based legal costs than they did give years ago.
• Across just 40 local councils and housing associations, £2.5bn was spent in the last five years maintaining deteriorating housing stock.
• Many councils believe that growing housing disrepair claims are restricting their ability to maintain their properties.

Writer and researcher, Jacob Poole, said: “I am excited to share my findings with other professional bodies in the housing market.

“We can finally acknowledge with statistics that legal claims brought against social housing providers is on the rise.

“Using this information, it is my hope that we can aim to be more transparent moving forward in discussions about redress.”

Cllr Tom Hunt, Chair of the LGA’s Inclusive Growth Committee said:

“Everyone deserves a safe and secure home to live in, and it is never acceptable if people find themselves in situations where they do not have access to it.

“Councils take their responsibility to ensure that people have access to good quality housing seriously, and the progress that local government is making in responding to those with complaints about their living conditions is positive.

“However, there remains significant progress for local government to make in responding as quickly and effectively to the most serious of complaints about housing.

“To properly address this, local government needs adequate funding to both ensure that existing housing stock is of good quality – especially with Awaab’s Law requirements to tackle damp and mould – and also to build more homes to ease pressure on the system.”

Harry Rodd