Repairs and disrepair — Hackney Council

If you rent from Hackney Council and are living with damp, mould, leaks or repairs that never seem to get done, you have legal rights. If the council knew about a problem and failed to fix it in a reasonable time, you may have a disrepair 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 Hackney Council if all of these apply:

1. Hackney Council is your landlord — you are a council tenant (if you rent from a housing association or a private landlord, your claim is against them, not the council).
2. The council knew about the problem. Usually that means you reported it — so keep your texts, emails, photos and repair reference numbers; they are the evidence any claim relies on.
3. It failed to fix the problem in a reasonable time. What is "reasonable" depends on the problem — Hackney's published repair targets, in the repairs FAQ 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.

Leaseholders of council-owned buildings have rights too — the route is a little different from a tenant's disrepair claim.

Before thinking about any legal claim, complain to the council. 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 — the evidence any claim relies on later.

Report the repair itself first — the ways to report are on the council's repairs page at hackney.gov.uk/repairs.^[11] If reporting has not fixed it, make a formal complaint on the council's complaints page at hackney.gov.uk/complaints.^[5]

Hackney's complaints process. The council runs a two-stage process. At stage 1, its published policy allows up to 5 working days to acknowledge your complaint and 10 working days from acknowledgement to give a written response.^[5] If you are unhappy with the answer, you can ask for a stage 2 review: up to 5 working days to acknowledge and 20 working days from acknowledgement to respond.^[5] Both stages usually need to be completed before the Housing Ombudsman can formally investigate.^[5]

Hackney also runs its own alternative dispute resolution scheme for repairs that have stayed unresolved for over six months even after the formal complaints process. Worth knowing: the Housing Ombudsman's May 2025 special report raised concerns that the scheme adds another layer of process, with cases taking an average of 71 days to complete at the time of the investigation.^[5]

If the complaint doesn't fix it: the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is free and independent, and you can contact it for advice at any point. It can order the council to carry out repairs, apologise and pay you compensation — and nobody takes a fee or a share of anything it awards you. Shelter and Citizens Advice also 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.

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 the council 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 honest adviser can say what a claim is worth before looking at the evidence. A proper 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 the council 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. If your case needs a solicitor, we will be upfront about that before you commit to anything. They take it from there: advising you, notifying the council 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.^[14] If a claim includes compensation for injury to health — for example a breathing condition made worse by damp and mould — that part usually has a shorter, three-year limit.^[14] Even long-running problems can often still be claimed for, but check where you stand rather than assume. Disrepair claims usually take months rather than weeks to resolve — one more reason to complain first and keep the pressure on for repairs while any claim runs.