Repairs and disrepair — Housing Plus Group

Before thinking about any legal claim, report the problem to your landlord and, if it is not fixed, complain. It is free, you can do it yourself, and it builds the dated record any later claim relies on.

Report to the landlord on your tenancy. Homes Plus and Wrekin still run separate repairs services; use the one named on your tenancy agreement.^[12]

Homes Plus tenants. Call 0800 007 4567, which also takes emergency repairs out of hours, or use the online form on the Homes Plus repairs page (opens in new tab) for a non-emergency repair.^[15] Report damp or mould by phone; on the call, Homes Plus sorts it into one of three categories, each with its own target (see the FAQs below).^[17]

Wrekin tenants. Use the My Wrekin app, or call 01952 217217 from 8am to 8pm any day; out of hours, the same number puts you through to its out-of-hours service. Wrekin says it treats any report of damp or mould as an emergency repair. Wrekin's repairs page (opens in new tab) has both.^[19]

Then complain, if it isn't fixed. One group-wide complaints policy covers both landlords, and the group's complaints and feedback page (opens in new tab) lists each landlord's routes. Homes Plus tenants can use the group's online complaint form (opens in new tab), call 0800 007 4567 or email feedback@housingplusgroup.co.uk. Wrekin tenants can call 01952 217100, email complaints@wrekin.com or use the My Wrekin app, and Wrekin's complaints page (opens in new tab) has the details.^[10] The policy has two stages:

• Stage 1 — acknowledged within 5 working days; the group aims to reply within 10 working days.
• Stage 2 — if you are unhappy with the outcome, ask for a review; you do not have to give a reason. It is acknowledged within 5 working days and answered within 20 working days.^[10]

If the complaint doesn't fix it: the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can advise you at any stage, and usually takes a case on once you have the stage two response^[10] — or if your complaint is stuck because your landlord is not responding to it.^[5] It is free and independent, can order repairs, an apology and compensation, and needs no claims company or solicitor.

Free advice. Shelter and Citizens Advice give free housing advice; a law centre can tell you if you qualify for legal aid. For disrepair, legal aid can cover making a landlord deal with a serious risk to health or safety, but not normally 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.

Of the Ombudsman's 10 findings on condensation, damp and mould in the group's 2025-26 cases, 3 were maladministration or service failure, and in 5 it found the landlord had already offered reasonable redress.^[3]

You may have a claim if all of these apply:

1. Homes Plus or Wrekin is your landlord. Check your tenancy agreement — the landlord named on it is the one a claim is brought against. An older Homes Plus agreement may name South Staffordshire Housing Association, Severnside Housing or Stafford and Rural Homes, which joined together to become Homes Plus in November 2021.^[14]
2. Your landlord knew about the problem. Usually that means you reported it. A call logged with Homes Plus, a report through the My Wrekin app or an email each leaves a dated record, so keep the reference numbers and any photos.
3. It failed to fix the problem in a reasonable time. What is "reasonable" depends on the problem — your landlord's own published targets, in the FAQs below, are a useful guide.
4. You were affected — for example, your health suffered, your belongings were damaged, or part of your home became unusable.

If you own a shared ownership or leasehold home through Homes Plus or Wrekin, you have rights too, though who repairs what depends on your lease — 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 your landlord 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 nobody can put a reliable figure on a claim before looking at the evidence.

Check who you are talking to. Homes Plus says claims management companies have been approaching its tenants by phone or at the door, sometimes posing as surveyors from Homes Plus. Its staff and contractors carry photo ID, so ask to see it before letting anyone into your home.^[18]

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

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.^[23] 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.^[23] Even long-running problems can often still be claimed for, but it makes sense to check where you stand rather than assume. Go in with a realistic timescale, too: disrepair claims usually take months rather than weeks to resolve, and some take longer — which is one more reason to complain first and keep the pressure on for repairs while any claim runs.