If the council decide your landlord has to do repairs

If your landlord has failed to have repairs carried out, the Environmental Health department of the council can inspect your home. They may be able to force your landlord to take action if:

• there's a hazard in your home which is a risk to your health or safety 

• your home is in such a state that it's harmful to your health or is a nuisance - called a ‘statutory nuisance’

If the council haven’t inspected your home yet, check if you can ask the council to inspect your repair problem.

If the council decide your landlord should take action, they’ll send your landlord a legal notice. They’ll also send you a copy of the notice.

The council might contact your landlord informally before they send a notice. They’ll ask them to do the work or risk getting a legal notice. 

The council should tell you what they’re doing. If they don’t, you can ask what they’ve done and if they’ve given your landlord a deadline to do the work.

What your landlord has to do depends on whether the notice is about a ‘hazard’ or a ‘statutory nuisance’.

If the notice is about a hazard

The council use the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to decide if something counts as a hazard. Hazards are rated according to how serious they are. The highest risks and most dangerous hazards are in Category 1.  If there's a Category 1 hazard, the council has a duty to take action against your landlord to try to resolve the problem.

Less dangerous hazards are in Category 2. If there's a Category 2 hazard, the council has a power to take action.

It's up to the council to decide which course of action to take. It will take into account:

• the nature of the risk to your health and safety and anyone who lives with you

• if you or anyone you live with is vulnerable

• your views and the views of anyone who supports you, for example, social services

What the council can do about a hazard

The council might decide to use:

• a hazard awareness notice – this tells your landlord about a hazard in your home, but doesn't require them to do anything specific

• an improvement notice – this requires your landlord to do certain work by a specific time

• a prohibition order – this stops the use of part or all of a building until work is done

• emergency measures – this is emergency action taken to remove a risk of serious harm or an order that stops the use of a building until work is done

• a demolition order – this is an order to demolish a building because it is in such a bad state of repair

• a clearance area – this is where all buildings in an area are dangerous and need to be demolished

The council must provide a statement of reasons for its decision along with each copy of the notice or order that is served.

If you're not satisfied with the action the council decides to take, you may need some advice.

• More about getting advice

If your landlord doesn't repair a hazard

In some cases, if the landlord doesn't do the required work, they can be prosecuted and fined. The council may also be able to do the work and charge the cost back to the landlord.

If your landlord is prosecuted and convicted, your council might be able to apply for a banning order against them. This stops them letting or managing properties.

If your landlord gets a banning order, there’s a chance they’ll try to evict you. Get help if you’re being evicted.

Appeals against council action on hazards

Appeals against council enforcement measures under the HHSRS are dealt with by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England, or the Residential Property Tribunal in Wales.

In England, there's guidance on applying to the First-tier Tribunal on the Ministry of Justice website.

• Guidance on Housing Act 2004 Cases at www.justice.gov.uk

In Wales, there's guidance on the HHSRS and appeals on the Residential Property Tribunal for Wales website.

• Guidance on the HHSRS at www.rpt.wales.gov.uk

If the notice is about a statutory nuisance

If there are urgent repairs, for example, a ceiling may collapse, the council can use a notice for emergency repairs.

The notice says that the council will do the work itself if the landlord doesn’t do it within nine days. If the council does the work, it can recover its costs from the landlord.

The landlord can serve a counter-notice on the council within seven days saying that they'll do the repairs. However, the council can still intervene if the work doesn't start in a reasonable time, if it's unreasonably slow or makes no progress.

If the council send an abatement notice

An abatement notice orders the landlord to do work to stop the nuisance within a certain period of time.

If the statutory nuisance is because of a structural defect the notice must be served on the owner. If the person responsible for the nuisance can't be found, the notice must be served on the owner or the occupier of the property.

It's possible to appeal an abatement notice. The appeal must be brought in the magistrates' court within 21 days of the notice being served.

If your landlord doesn't do the work in an abatement notice

If the work on the abatement notice isn’t carried out and the landlord doesn't have a reasonable excuse, they're guilty of a criminal offence.

If an abatement notice isn't complied with the council can:

• apply to the magistrates' court to prosecute the landlord

• take legal proceedings in the High Court to stop, prohibit or restrict the statutory nuisance

• stop the nuisance itself by carrying out the necessary work. It can then claim the costs back from the landlord.

Landlords can be fined for statutory nuisance and ordered to pay compensation to you if you're affected by the nuisance.

Applying for a rent repayment order

If your landlord doesn't obey an improvement notice or prohibition order, a tenant (including a former tenant, licensee or anyone who's liable to pay the rent) or the council can apply for a rent repayment order. This would mean they could get back up to 12 months' rent.

A tenant or council must apply for a rent repayment order to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).

A tenant or council has 12 months to apply from the deadline for the landlord to obey the improvement notice or prohibition order. They can only apply for rent covering the period when the landlord committed the offence.

A tenant can only reclaim rent that wasn't paid by housing benefit or universal credit. They'll need to give the reason they're applying, any evidence of what the landlord did wrong, the date of the offence and any conviction, and proof that they paid the rent.

The tribunal must be satisfied 'beyond reasonable doubt' by the evidence if the landlord hasn't been convicted of the offence.

A rent repayment order should not affect a tenant's housing status - they'll still have to pay rent.

There's a risk that a landlord might try to evict an occupier if a rent repayment order is enforced. It's important to establish your client's housing status before advising them. They might need specialist housing advice.

• More about seeking specialist housing advice

A local housing authority must consider government guidance called Rent repayment orders under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 when deciding whether to apply for an order.

Before a council applies for a rent repayment order, they must give the landlord a notice of intended proceedings within 12 months of the offence.

A notice of intended proceedings must say:

• the council plans to apply for a rent repayment order and explain why

• how much money the local housing authority is seeking

• the landlord can respond to the council by a certain date (at least 28 days)

The council can't apply for a rent repayment order during this time and must consider any response from the landlord.

Complaining about the council 

If you’re not satisfied with the way the council has acted, you could ask it to reconsider its decision or contact your local councillor, MP or Assembly Member to put pressure on the council.

You can contact a local councillor through your council or by attending the councillor's advice surgery. You can also find out who your local councillor, MP or Assembly Member is and contact them using the WriteToThem website.

You could also make a formal complaint using the council's internal complaints procedure. If you’re unhappy with the outcome, you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman in England or the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

Contact your Councillors, MP, or Welsh AMs for free at the Write to Them website.