Home / Common questions / Telling your landlord first
Do I have to tell my landlord about the problem before I claim?
Yes. A landlord normally has to know about a problem and have had a fair chance to fix it before they are legally at fault. The best way is in writing.
- Tell your landlord in writing and keep a copy
- Give them a reasonable time to respond
- If they do nothing, you may have a claim
Last updated: 6 October 2026. This page is general information about housing disrepair in England, not legal advice.
Why it matters
For most repair problems, your landlord's duty to fix it starts when they know about it. If you have not told them, they can say they were never aware. Having a dated record of when you reported the problem is one of the strongest pieces of evidence in a claim.
How to report a problem
- Put it in writing: an email, a letter, or a message in your landlord's online portal
- Say what the problem is, where it is and when it started
- Say if anyone in the home is affected, for example children, older people or someone with asthma
- Ask when it will be fixed
- Keep a copy and note the date. If you phone, follow up with a message saying what was said
- Take dated photos at the same time
You do not need a special template. A clear message with the facts is enough.
Social landlords and Awaab's Law
If your landlord is a council or housing association, Awaab's Law sets deadlines for dealing with damp and mould and certain emergency hazards. See our guide to Awaab's Law.
What if you have already reported it
If you have already told your landlord and nothing has been done, you may be able to start a claim now. Tell us when you reported it, how you did it, and what happened next. Our timeline guide shows what comes after.
Questions
How long should I wait before claiming?
There is no single answer. A landlord should respond reasonably quickly, and urgent problems such as no heating or a dangerous fault need action sooner. Tell us what has happened and we will explain where you stand.
What if I only phoned?
That can still count, but a written record is much stronger. Send a short message now confirming what you reported and when.
What if my landlord says they did not get my message?
Keep proof such as a sent email or portal receipt, and send it again in a way that gives a record. Tell us the dates.
Ready to find out where you stand?
It takes about two minutes and there is no obligation.
Check my claimHow we are paid
- To start: you pay nothing.
- If you win: your landlord usually pays most of our costs. Any contribution you make, our success fee, is capped at 25% of the damages you are awarded. The insurance premium (£425 plus Insurance Premium Tax, £476.00 in total) is payable only if you win and comes out of your compensation.
- If you do not win: you do not pay our charges, provided you have kept to your agreement with us. Cover can be lost in some situations, which the full guide explains.
- Cooling-off: 14 days to cancel after signing, without charge.
See the full costs detail
Your conditional fee agreement
A conditional fee agreement, or CFA, is the formal name for our funding arrangement with you. Our fees are payable only if your claim succeeds. If it does not, you do not pay our charges for the work done on your case.
If you win, we normally recover our legal costs from your landlord. When the landlord does not pay all of them, we may charge a success fee to cover the difference. The success fee is a percentage of our basic charges, and it can never be more than 25% of the damages you are awarded. You will see the exact figure in writing before you sign.
Your insurance policy
To protect you if the claim fails, we arrange an after-the-event (ATE) insurance policy for you. The policy is provided by an insurer that is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We give you the insurer's name and its FCA number in your written agreement before you sign. It is designed to cover your opponent's legal costs, if a court orders you to pay them, and your own disbursements, such as court fees and expert reports, if the claim does not succeed.
The premium is a flat £425 plus Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), which comes to £476.00 at the current 12% rate. It is one fixed price and is not charged in stages. You only pay it if you win, and it is taken from your compensation.
If you win
Most of your legal costs are paid by your landlord. The insurance premium (£476.00 in total) and any success fee, up to the 25% cap, are deducted from your compensation. You keep the rest. We show you the expected deductions in writing before your case ends.
If you lose
If your claim does not succeed and you have kept to your agreement with us, you do not pay our charges, and your insurance is designed to cover the other side's costs and the expenses it insures. That protection can be lost, and in a few situations you may have to pay our charges, as listed below.
What is included
We handle your claim from your first review through to settlement or a court decision, including letters to your landlord, inspections and negotiations. How long it takes depends on the case, and we keep you updated.
Cooling-off
You have 14 days after signing to cancel without charge. If you cancel, your insurance ends too.
When your insurance cover may not apply
- You give us untrue or misleading information about your claim
- You stop co-operating with us, or do not follow our reasonable advice. In this case you may have to pay our charges
- You turn down a reasonable settlement offer against our advice and then recover less at trial
- You instructed another firm of solicitors on this claim before signing with us and did not tell us. In this case you may have to pay our charges
- You instruct another firm of solicitors on this claim after signing with us. In this case you may have to pay our charges
- You cancel the agreement. You can cancel without charge within the 14-day cooling-off period, but your insurance ends when you do
If any of these happen, you could become responsible for costs your insurance would otherwise have covered, and in some cases for our charges.
We go through all of this with you in writing before you sign anything. Read the full guide on our How our fees work page.
We explain all costs in writing before you sign anything.
Complaints
We want to put things right. If you are unhappy with our service, tell us at Enquiries@disrepairclaimshub.co.uk, on 01772 590900 or in writing to Muirfield Building, 5 Fairways Office Park, Pittman Way, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9LF. Please mark your message "Complaint".
What happens next
- We acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days
- We look into it fairly and tell you what we found
- We aim to send you our full written response within 8 weeks
- If you are still unhappy, you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, normally within six months of our final written response
You can also report concerns about our conduct to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Privacy notice
Equitas Solicitors Ltd, trading as Disrepair Claims Hub, is the data controller for the information you give us through this website. Our address is Muirfield Building, 5 Fairways Office Park, Pittman Way, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9LF. You can contact us at Enquiries@disrepairclaimshub.co.uk.
What we collect and why
We collect what you enter on our enquiry form: your name, phone number and email address, who your landlord is, the problems with your home, whether and when you reported them, your preferred call time and language, and any description, photos or videos you add. We also record technical information such as the page you came from, the advert or link you used, and your IP address. We use this to assess your enquiry, contact you, give you information about your possible claim and, if you instruct us, act for you. Photos and videos can show your home and may contain location data, and descriptions may include health information. We use them only to assess and run your claim.
Our legal basis
We use your information to take steps you ask us to take before entering a contract with you, because it is in our legitimate interests to respond to enquiries and run our business, and to meet our legal and regulatory duties. Where you give us health information, we use it because it is needed to establish, bring or defend legal claims. We only send you news and offers if you tick the optional box, and you can withdraw that consent at any time.
Who we share it with
We share information only where needed: with the providers who help us run this website and our systems (such as hosting, email and IT providers), insurers (including the after-the-event insurer for your claim), experts and surveyors, your landlord and their representatives, the court, and regulators or professional advisers where the law or our regulator requires. We do not sell your information.
How long we keep it
If you do not go on to instruct us, we delete your enquiry details and any files you uploaded within 12 months. If you become a client, we keep your file for as long as the law and our regulator require, which is usually at least six years after it closes.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete your information, restrict or object to how we use it, or ask for a copy. Contact us at Enquiries@disrepairclaimshub.co.uk. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
If you contact us through WhatsApp, WhatsApp's own terms and privacy policy apply to that message. Please do not send sensitive documents until we have spoken.
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Who we are
We are a law firm, not a claims management company. Disrepair Claims Hub is a trading style of Equitas Solicitors Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 459787. Company number 5871121. VAT registration number GB 866 7991 49. Registered office: Muirfield Building, 5 Fairways Office Park, Pittman Way, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9LF. Details of our professional indemnity insurance, including the insurer and territorial coverage, are available on request.