Repairs and disrepair — Amplius

Before thinking about any legal claim, complain to Amplius. It is free, you do not need anyone to do it for you, and it is often the fastest way to get repairs moving. It also creates a written record of what you reported and when.

Report the repair through your legacy landlord. Amplius has not yet merged its customer services, so it sends tenants to the website of the landlord they were with before the merger:^[12]

• Former Grand Union tenants: the My.Amplius portal at guhg.co.uk, or 0800 111 4013 (option 2 for emergency repairs out of hours).^[12]
• Former Longhurst Group tenants: the Longhurst repairs and complaints links on Amplius's contact page, amplius.co.uk/contact-us.^[12]
• Any tenant: a message to Amplius's customer team on Facebook.^[12]

How Amplius's complaints process works. Amplius has one complaints policy for all its tenants, with two stages. Former Grand Union tenants can complain at guhg.co.uk/contact-us/complaints; former Longhurst tenants use the complaints link on Amplius's contact page. It says it acknowledges a complaint within 5 working days and aims to give a Stage 1 outcome within 10 working days of that. If you are still unhappy, you can escalate to Stage 2, where it aims to respond within 20 working days and someone new looks at the case.^[11]

If the complaint doesn't fix it: the Housing Ombudsman. If you have been through both stages and are still unhappy — or your complaint is not progressing — you can take it to the Housing Ombudsman. The service is free and independent, and you can contact it for advice at any point, not just at the end. It can order your landlord to carry out repairs, apologise and pay you compensation.

Free advice. Shelter and Citizens Advice offer free housing advice, and a local law centre can tell you whether you qualify for legal aid. For disrepair, legal aid can be available where there is a serious risk to health or safety — though not normally for a compensation-only claim.

Complaining and claiming are not either/or. Complaining first is the right move in almost every case — and if the repairs still don't happen, the record you have built makes any claim stronger, not weaker.

"Disrepair" means problems with your home that your landlord is legally responsible for fixing but hasn't. Common examples include:

• damp and mould
• leaks — from the roof, pipes, or a flat above
• broken heating or no hot water
• rotten or draughty windows and doors
• cracked walls, unsafe ceilings or other structural problems
• faulty electrics.

You may have a claim against Amplius if all of these apply:

1. Amplius is your landlord. If your tenancy was with Grand Union or Longhurst Group, it is now with Amplius — the older name on your agreement does not change that.^[1]
2. Amplius knew about the problem. Usually that means you reported it — so your texts, emails, photos and repair reference numbers matter. Keep them.
3. It failed to fix the problem in a reasonable time. What is "reasonable" depends on the problem. Amplius's maximum repair targets, and the attendance targets on the legacy Grand Union website, are in the FAQs below.
4. You were affected — for example, your health suffered, your belongings were damaged, or part of your home became unusable.

If you are a shared owner or a leaseholder in an Amplius home, you have rights too, though the route is different — see the shared-owner question in the FAQs below, which applies to leaseholders too.

A housing disrepair claim can deal with two things: getting the repairs done, and recognising what living with the problem has cost you. Depending on your situation, a claim may cover:

• the repairs themselves — a court can order Amplius to carry out the work;
• inconvenience and distress — compensation may be sought for the disruption of living with the problem;
• effects on health — for example where damp and mould have made a breathing condition worse;
• damaged belongings — clothes, furniture, carpets or electronics ruined by damp, mould or leaks;
• loss of use of part of your home — such as a bedroom or bathroom you could not safely use.

Every case is different, and no reliable figure can be put on a claim before the evidence has been looked at. An assessment starts from your record: what was reported, when, and what happened next.

Step 1 — tell us what's happened. You answer some straightforward questions: what the problem is, when you reported it, what Amplius did (or didn't do), and how it has affected your household. Photos, repair references and complaint responses all help.

Step 2 — get your free report. We assess your answers against the legal tests on this page and give you a clear written view of whether you may have a claim and how strong it looks. Your first conversation with us is always free.

Step 3 — if your case is strong. If your case needs a solicitor, we connect you with an independent, regulated law firm — and we will be upfront about that before you commit to anything. They take it from there: advising you, notifying Amplius formally, and usually arranging an independent inspection of your home. Most disrepair cases settle without anyone going to court.

A note on time limits. Legal time limits apply to disrepair claims. A disrepair claim is normally a contract claim, and the usual limit is six years.^[16] Where part of the claim is for an injury to health — damp-related breathing problems, for instance — that element usually carries a shorter, three-year limit instead.^[16] Even long-running problems can often still be claimed for, but it makes sense to check where you stand rather than assume. Disrepair claims usually take months rather than weeks to resolve, which is one more reason to complain first and keep pressing for repairs while any claim runs.