Repairs and disrepair — SNG

If you rent your home from SNG and are living with damp, mould, leaks or repairs that never seem to get done, you have legal rights. If SNG 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 SNG if all of these apply:

1. SNG is your landlord. Check your tenancy agreement — the landlord named on it is what counts. SNG was created by the merger of Sovereign Housing Association and Network Homes. If your tenancy is older than the merger, Sovereign, Network Homes or Sovereign Network Homes may be the name on your original agreement — it is all the same landlord now.^[13]
2. SNG 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 — SNG's own published repair timescales are a good guide.^[11]
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 SNG building, you have rights too — the route is a little different from a tenant's disrepair claim.

Before thinking about any legal claim, complain to SNG. It is free, it is often the fastest way to get repairs moving, and it creates the written record any later claim relies on.

Report the repair itself first — the ways to report are on SNG's repairs page at sng.org.uk/customers/repairs.^[11] If reporting has not fixed it, make a formal complaint — SNG's complaints policy at sng.org.uk/complaints-policy sets out how.^[10]

How SNG's process works. SNG runs a two-stage complaints process. At stage 1, it says it will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and respond in full within 10 working days of the acknowledgement. Complex cases can take up to a further 10 working days. At stage 2, it acknowledges your review request within 5 working days and responds within 20 working days of the acknowledgement, with up to a further 20 working days where needed.^[10] You have one year from the date of your stage 2 response to take the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.^[10]

How that works in practice. On the figures SNG reported to the regulator for 2024-25, it responded to 73.4% of stage 1 complaints and 57.1% of stage 2 complaints from social-rent homes within the Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code timescales.^[9] Keep every date and reference number.

If the complaint doesn't fix it. You can take your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman — free, independent, and able to order SNG to carry out repairs, apologise and pay you compensation. You can contact it for advice at any point, not just at the end, and nobody takes a fee or a share of anything it awards you. Shelter and Citizens Advice offer free housing advice, and a local law centre can tell you whether you qualify for legal aid.

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 SNG 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 SNG 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. We will be upfront about that before you commit to anything. The firm takes it from there: advising you, notifying SNG 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.^[18] 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.^[18] 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.