Damp, mould, cold: the law is specific. Speak to Kestrel.
Your landlord is legally responsible for the structure and exterior, heating, hot water, sanitation and gas and electrical safety, and the home must be fit for human habitation, which serious damp and mould can breach. The route is written reports, a reasonable time to fix, then council enforcement and a disrepair claim with compensation. Withholding rent outright is the one move that backfires.
The Landlord and Tenant Act puts structure, exterior and essential installations on the landlord, and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act requires the home to be fit to live in throughout the tenancy: free from serious hazards including damp, mould, excess cold and unsafe electrics. Neither can be contracted out of.
The duty bites when the landlord knows: report in writing and keep every message. After notice, repairs are due within a reasonable time, judged by the seriousness; heating in winter is measured in days, not months. Timescale rules for serious hazards such as mould are being extended across the rental sectors, tightening this further.
Councils can inspect and serve improvement notices the landlord must obey, and retaliatory eviction protections restrict possession action after complaints. A civil disrepair claim adds compensation, typically a slice of the rent for the period endured, plus repairs by order. What you do not do is stop paying rent: arrears hand the landlord a ground and swap your strong claim for their strong one.
Guide edition: August 2026. General information for England and Wales. Current law and your particular facts require assessment before action.
Date, describe, photograph. Repeat each time it worsens. This starts the clock and builds the claim.
Chase once, then involve the council's private housing team, whose notices carry teeth.
Photos over time, damaged belongings, GP visits for respiratory issues, heating and electricity costs. Compensation follows the record.
A disrepair letter under the protocol, then a claim for repairs and compensation. Most landlords fix and settle at the letter.
Tell Kestrel what happened. The AI legal assistant gathers the facts and prepares a summary for you to check. Request lawyer review from your Legal Centre.
Speak to Kestrel nowSix years for contract-based disrepair claims, but compensation runs from when you gave notice, so the written report is the moment your claim starts accruing. Report today, on paper.
This guide concerns Property & tenancy. It forms part of our reference library. Kestrel is preparing for SRA authorisation. See practice details for the proposed service and current availability.
The lifestyle defence has worn thin in law and in practice. Structural damp, poor ventilation and inadequate heating are the landlord's domain, and fitness for habitation covers exactly this. An independent or council inspection usually settles whose problem it is.
Not safely. Arrears give the landlord a possession ground and undermine you. There is a careful lawful route to using rent for repairs after formal warnings, but it has strict steps; take advice before trying it.
Protections against retaliatory eviction restrict possession after genuine complaints and council notices, and under the current regime the landlord needs a proved ground in any event. Complaints in writing strengthen rather than weaken your position.
Typically a percentage of rent for the affected period, scaled by severity, plus damaged belongings and quantifiable extra costs. Serious prolonged disrepair produces serious numbers; the record you kept sets them.
Start with the AI legal assistant, then follow the case, messages and lawyer review in your Legal Centre.
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