Repairs and disrepair — Citizen Housing

Before thinking about any legal claim, complain to Citizen. It is free, you can do it yourself, and it is often the fastest way to get repairs moving. It also creates a written record of what you reported and when — the evidence a claim relies on later, if you need one.

Report the repair. Report a repair (opens in new tab) through My Account, Citizen's online customer portal, or call 0300 790 6555 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm).^[17] For an emergency repair, such as a complete loss of heating, phone the same number, which also takes calls out of hours.^[17] Report damp and mould early, with photos and the rooms affected.^[17]

Then complain, if it isn't fixed. Complain through the online form on Citizen's complaints page (opens in new tab), through My Account or by phone.^[11][17] Citizen acknowledges a complaint within 5 working days and aims to respond at stage one within 10 working days. If you are still unhappy, you have six months from that response to ask for stage two, which it aims to answer within 20 working days.^[11]

Complain in time, and before any claim. Citizen's complaints policy says it is unlikely to accept a complaint about a problem that happened more than 12 months ago, or one already going through a court or tribunal.^[11]

If the complaint doesn't fix it: the Housing Ombudsman. If you have been through Citizen's two stages and are still unhappy, you can take it to the Housing Ombudsman.^[11] It is free and independent, and you can ask it for advice at any point. The Ombudsman can order your landlord to carry out repairs, apologise, and pay you compensation. You need no claims company or solicitor to use it, and nobody takes a share of anything it awards.

Free advice. Shelter and Citizens Advice both give free, independent housing advice at any point. A local law centre can tell you whether you qualify for legal aid. For disrepair, legal aid can be available to make a landlord deal with a serious risk to health or safety, but not normally for a compensation-only claim.

"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 Citizen if all of these apply:

1. Citizen is your landlord. Check your tenancy agreement — the landlord named on it is what counts. Citizen's registered name is Citizen Housing Group Limited.^[1] Older paperwork may name WM Housing Group or Whitefriars, which are part of Citizen's history — if so, ask Citizen to confirm who your landlord is.^[19]
2. Citizen knew about the problem. Usually that means you reported it. Keep your repair references, emails and photos; My Account also shows your repair history.^[17]
3. It failed to fix the problem in a reasonable time. What is "reasonable" depends on the problem — Citizen's own published timescales, in the FAQs below, are a good guide.
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 a Citizen home, you have rights too, though the route is a little different — see the shared-owner question in the FAQs below.

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 Citizen 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.

A claim is not the only way to get compensation. The Housing Ombudsman can order it for free, and in its 2025-26 Citizen cases its orders included compensation, apologies and repairs.^[4] Citizen's complaints policy lets it pay compensation for service failures; a formal disrepair claim is dealt with outside that policy.^[11]

Every case is different, and no reliable figure can be put on a claim before the evidence has been looked at.

Step 1 — tell us what's happened. You answer some straightforward questions: what the problem is, when you reported it, what Citizen 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, 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 Citizen formally, and usually arranging an independent inspection of your home. Most disrepair cases settle without anyone going to court.

Citizen's own advice. Citizen publishes a page warning its customers about claims management companies that approach them about disrepair claims, some of which pretend to be from Citizen. It says that if a claim is made, it will send a surveyor, carry out any repairs it is responsible for, and check whether the problem was reported to it first.^[18] Whoever you talk to — us included — you should never be pressed to sign anything on the doorstep, and you can complain to Citizen directly at any stage.

A note on time limits. A disrepair claim is normally treated as a contract claim, with a limitation period of six years from when the landlord should have fixed the problem.^[21] 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.^[21] Even long-running problems can often still be claimed for, but it makes sense to check where you stand rather than assume.

How long a claim takes. Disrepair claims are rarely quick — which is one more reason to complain first and keep the pressure on for repairs while any claim runs.