Man Wins Case Against Housing Association for State of Disrepair
Successful disrepair claim against housing association
A local man has won his case against his social housing landlord following a year long battle over the terrible state of his home.
From extreme damp to blocked drains, the state in which our client was made to live was simply unacceptable.
What was the case?
Our client lived in a housing association home which was in a state of disrepair.
He had lodged several complaints with his landlord beginning in April 2016, but none of them were listened to.
There was extensive damp and mould in the hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom of his home.
These issues caused our client extreme health problems and psychological stress.
He was diagnosed with low oxygen levels and an increased heart rate as a direct result of his living conditions.
Despite this, his landlord continuously messed our tenant around.
He denied that the results of a professional survey of the property were accurate and insisted on his own surveyor visiting.
Problems in the property
The joint report of these two surveyors detailed the following work as necessary to be done to the property:
- Sanitisation of external pathways following drainage works
- Replacement of defective plasterwork in the hallways, living room, bathroom and bedroom
- Supplying and fitting of new skirting boards, radiators and electrical fittings
- Redecoration
- Refit of kitchen units
- Replacement of bathroom tiles
The moisture content readings were recorded as follows:
- Hallway – 99.3 per cent
- Living room – 77.5 and 85.3 per cent
- Kitchen – 100 per cent
- Bathroom – 69.5 per cent
Taking into account all of the above, our client’s expert surveyor recommended that he be urgently removed from the property due to contaminated water under the floor.
The cost of repair was estimated by this surveyor as £5,005, whereas the landlord’s surveyor estimated £0.
Damaging effects
Unfortunately due to our client’s ill health, he lost his job.
The landlord then claimed that there was no evidence of contaminated water beneath the property as our client’s surveyor had said.
Over three months after it was stated that alternative housing should be sought urgently for our client, the landlord finally agreed to move him to a hotel.
Our housing disrepair solicitors had to keep going back and forth with the landlord to arrange temporary accommodation, but it proved very difficult due to his complete disregard of our client’s health and wellbeing.
Outcome
After months of our client enduring horrible conditions and the actions of a careless landlord, the house was finally repaired to an acceptable condition.
It was a terrible ordeal for our client to go through – from the beginning of the case to when he actually moved back in was over a year.
After a lot of negotiation, it was finally agreed that our client would be awarded £2,500 in damages.
Although the tenant had to go through a lot of distress, we were pleased to be able to win him compensation in the end, which made him much less concerned about his financial situation as well as getting him the justice he deserved.
If you’re suffering from a similar issue, contact us on 0800 999 2220 or use the contact form today.
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