London borough invites chambers to apply for housing disrepair arbitration pilot

The London Borough of Lambeth is inviting barristers’ chambers to apply to be involved in an arbitration pilot that it is setting up as an alternative form of resolution for housing disrepair disputes.

The local authority said the background to the pilot is a significant increase in the volume of claims for disrepair that it and other councils are facing.

It added that at the end of 2021 it had nearly 1,000 live disrepair cases, six times higher than in 2017. The main issues raised in disrepair claims related to mould and damp (45%) with roof disrepair and leaks a secondary issue (20% of the 45%).

The proposal to set up an arbitration pilot was one of 16 actions that came out of a review of the housing disrepair process carried out by the council's 'Disrepair Project Group'.

Lambeth described its pilot scheme as “relatively straightforward” and involving an independent barrister to hear and award disputes. It will cover an estimated 120 cases in 2022/23.

The council said: “As part of this procurement barristers' chambers are being invited to tender and put forward barristers to act as independent arbitrator on disrepair disputes. The Disrepair Project Group has coproduced some of the method statements with residents from the Lambeth's Resident Procurement Panel (RPP) (a resident-based advisory and consultative panel set up to assist the council design, procure and manage housing services). RPP members will also help evaluate some of the method statement responses that will help inform which two barristers' chambers arbitrators to appoint.”

Lambeth is seeking to procure two independent chambers (one each for the North and South of the borough) to allocate a suitably experienced barrister, or panel of barristers, to act as independent arbitrator on disrepair disputes.

The closing date is 12 pm on 9 May 2022.

The contract is due to start on 1 July 2022 and run until 30 June 2023.