Repairs and disrepair — Tower Hamlets Council
If you rent your home from Tower Hamlets Council and are living with damp, mould, leaks or repairs that never get done, you may have a disrepair claim. The council's repairs and complaint handling have been examined in depth by the Housing Ombudsman, and in April 2025 the Regulator of Social Housing gave it a C3 consumer grade.[1][2]
The fastest free route is usually to complain to the council first. Checking whether you may have a claim is also free, and you commit to nothing by asking.
Could you have a disrepair claim against Tower Hamlets Council?
Tower Hamlets Council is the landlord for tens of thousands of social homes across the borough. For years its homes were managed day-to-day by Tower Hamlets Homes, an arm's-length organisation — but the council was always the landlord, and it brought housing management back in-house in November 2023.[2]
"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 Tower Hamlets Council if all of these apply:
- Tower Hamlets 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).
- The council knew about the problem. Usually that means you reported it — so your texts, emails, photos, and repair reference numbers are gold. Keep them.
- It failed to fix the problem in a reasonable time. What is "reasonable" depends on the problem — the timescales lower down this page are a good guide.
- 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, though the route is a little different. A small number of Tower Hamlets homes are managed day-to-day through tenant management arrangements — but the council remains ultimately responsible for those homes.[2]
Complain to Tower Hamlets Council first — how to do it
Start by reporting the repair, if you have not already: the council takes repair reports through its online Report a repair service, with an emergency route for repairs that can't wait — keep the reference number.[9]
If a reported repair is not put right, complain to the council. It is free, and 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.
Tower Hamlets' complaints process. The council's housing complaints policy runs a two-stage process. At stage 1 — the investigation — you get a written response within 10 working days, which the council may extend by a further 10 for more complex complaints.[7] If you are unhappy with the answer, you can ask for a stage 2 review, which a different officer answers within 20 working days; after that, the route onward is the Housing Ombudsman.[7] One thing to watch: the council's general corporate complaints page quotes 20 working days at stage 1 — that is the separate track for non-housing complaints; complaints about your home follow the housing timescales above.[7] In 2024/25 the council reported answering 70.7% of stage 1 housing complaints within the Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code timescales.[4]
If the complaint doesn't fix it: the Housing Ombudsman. If you have been through the council's process and are still unhappy — or it is not progressing your complaint — you can take it to the Housing Ombudsman. The service is free and independent, and you can contact it at any point. It can order your landlord to carry out repairs, apologise and pay you compensation, and you do not need a claims company or a solicitor to use it. Where this page quotes compensation figures, they are sums the Ombudsman recorded or ordered in its published casework, not payouts arranged by a claims company.
For free advice at any point, Shelter and Citizens Advice both offer housing advice, and a local law centre can tell you whether you qualify for legal aid — available for disrepair that poses 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 the record you build makes any later claim stronger, not weaker.
What a disrepair claim can cover
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 tell you what a claim is worth before looking at your evidence — so we won't. What we can do is assess your situation properly and tell you, plainly, whether it looks strong.
What happens if you start a claim
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 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 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 — usually six years from when the landlord should have fixed the problem — so even long-running problems can often still be claimed for, but it makes sense to check where you stand rather than assume.[17] 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.
Living with disrepair in a Tower Hamlets Council home?
Tell us what's happening in your home and we'll help you work out the right next step.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — if Tower Hamlets Council is your landlord, it knew about the damp or mould, and it failed to deal with it in a reasonable time, you may be able to bring a disrepair claim. Damp and mould can breach the council's repair and fitness-for-habitation duties, and since 27 October 2025 Awaab's Law also sets binding timescales for acting on it. It was among the biggest areas of failure in the Ombudsman's 2024-25 findings for Tower Hamlets. Complain to the council first — free, and often the quickest fix — then a claim can cover compensation and outstanding work.
Since 27 October 2025, Awaab's Law has set legally binding timescales for social landlords, including councils. Where damp and mould could be a significant hazard, the landlord must investigate within 10 working days, give you a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation ending, and complete any safety work within a further 5 working days; an emergency hazard must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. Tower Hamlets' own repair timescales have no dedicated damp-and-mould category, so these Awaab's Law timescales are the ones that apply.
In its 2024-25 landlord performance report, the Housing Ombudsman found maladministration in most of the findings it made about Tower Hamlets, with the condition of people's homes and complaints handling the biggest areas of failure, and none of the year's findings in the most serious "severe" category. The council complied with almost all the Ombudsman's orders within the year, and points to investment in safety and repairs in response. The full figures — the maladministration rate, the national comparator, the orders and the compensation — are on our main Tower Hamlets Council page.
In a judgement published on 30 April 2025 — its first under the regulator's new consumer regime, and one the council triggered by referring itself in October 2024 — the Regulator of Social Housing graded Tower Hamlets Council C3, meaning serious failings that need significant improvement. Its main concerns were how little the council knew about the condition of its own homes and a backlog of fire, water and electrical safety work; it also recorded that the council had engaged constructively and was putting resourced plans in place. The full findings, and the council's response, are on our main Tower Hamlets Council page.
For repairs inside your home the council publishes two categories: an emergency — an immediate risk to health, safety or security — is attended within 2 hours to make safe, with follow-up completed within 24 hours; everything else is normal priority, targeted at 20 working days. Shared areas follow a separate communal scheme. In its 2024/25 return, the council reported completing 75.6% of non-emergency and 79.8% of emergency repairs on time. For damp and mould, the binding Awaab's Law timescales also apply. If the council misses these after you reported a problem, chase it and complain if it is still not put right.
In practice, yes — complaining first is not a box you can skip. Courts expect both sides to have tried to resolve the problem before a claim is issued, and the written record your complaint creates is the evidence any claim is built on. It is also free, and often the fastest way to get repairs done. Tower Hamlets runs a two-stage housing complaints process — the timescales are under "Complain to Tower Hamlets Council first" above. If the complaint does not fix things, you can go to the Housing Ombudsman for free — and a disrepair claim remains open to you: complaining is not a detour, it is the first step.
Not to start with — and, for compensation, not necessarily at all. You can report repairs, complain to the council, and take your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman yourself, all for free, and the Ombudsman can order repairs, an apology and compensation with no fee and nobody taking a share. A court claim is a different route: it normally goes through a solicitor, and is worth considering where serious disrepair has gone on a long time or the free routes have not worked. Remedy Legal is not a law firm: we check whether you may have a claim and, if it is strong, connect you with an independent, regulated law firm — your first conversation is always free.
There is no fixed amount, and you should be cautious of anyone who quotes you a figure before seeing your evidence. What compensation may be sought for depends on how serious the disrepair was, how long it went on after the council knew, how it affected your household's health and daily life, and what belongings were damaged. The honest answer is that it has to be assessed case by case, against your own evidence.
No — complaining, going to the Ombudsman, or bringing a disrepair claim should not put your tenancy at risk. Most council tenants are secure tenants, which means the council can only evict through a court, on legal grounds — and asking your landlord to meet its legal repair duties is not one of them. Complaining is a formal right, and the council's own complaints policy tells you how to use it. Keep everything in writing, keep your reference numbers, and don't be put off.
Tower Hamlets Homes was the arm's-length management organisation that ran the council's homes day-to-day until the council brought housing management back in-house in November 2023. The council was always your landlord — Tower Hamlets Homes only managed the homes on its behalf — so nothing about your tenancy or your rights changed hands. Some Housing Ombudsman decisions about things that happened before the transfer are published under the Tower Hamlets Homes name, and the Ombudsman's performance report for 2024-25 counts them all under Tower Hamlets Council. If your problem started under Tower Hamlets Homes and is still not fixed, your complaint — and any claim — is against the council.
About this data
Information on this page was last checked on 26 July 2026. Regulatory grades and Ombudsman figures are correct as at the dates shown against each figure and may have changed since. Grades are reviewed and may change.
We aim for accuracy. If you represent this landlord or spot something out of date, contact legal@remedylegal.ai and we will review it promptly.
Remedy Legal is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We do not carry out reserved legal activities or act as your legal representative. If your case needs a solicitor, we can connect you with an independent, regulated law firm.
Sources
- Landlord Performance Report 2024/2025 – Tower Hamlets Council (data refreshed May 2025) (opens in new tab). Housing Ombudsman Service. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 31 March 2025.
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets (00BG) - Regulatory Judgement: 30 April 2025 (opens in new tab). Regulator of Social Housing (GOV.UK). Checked 26 July 2026; data as at 30 April 2025.
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets — publications page (opens in new tab). Regulator of Social Housing (GOV.UK). Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 12 July 2026.
- Tenant Satisfaction Measures 2024/25 — full data workbook (2025_TSM_Full_Data_v1.1_FINAL.xlsx) (opens in new tab). Regulator of Social Housing (official statistics). Checked 26 July 2026; data as at 31 March 2025.
- Tenant Satisfaction Measures 2024/25: Headline report (opens in new tab). Regulator of Social Housing. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 31 March 2025.
- Performance and Tenant Satisfaction Measures (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Council. Checked 12 July 2026.
- Housing complaints policy and procedure (next review date 03/07/2026) (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Council. Checked 12 July 2026.
- The corporate complaints process (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Council. Checked 26 July 2026.
- Report a repair (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Council. Checked 26 July 2026.
- Tower Hamlets Council takes action to improve housing standards (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Council. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 19 November 2024.
- Response to Regulator of Social Housing judgement (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Council. Checked 26 July 2026; data as at 30 April 2025.
- Tower Hamlets Homes (202234784) (opens in new tab). Housing Ombudsman Service. Checked 26 July 2026; data as at 16 August 2024.
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets (202331276) (opens in new tab). Housing Ombudsman Service. Checked 26 July 2026; data as at 27 May 2025.
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets (202435197) (opens in new tab). Housing Ombudsman Service. Checked 26 July 2026; data as at 22 December 2025.
- Special investigation reports (listing) (opens in new tab). Housing Ombudsman Service. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 12 July 2026.
- Mayor Lutfur Rahman moves Tower Hamlets Homes in-house (opens in new tab). Tower Hamlets Slice. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 2 November 2023.
- Limitation Act 1980 (c. 58), section 5 (time limit for actions founded on simple contract) (opens in new tab). legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Checked 20 July 2026.
- Limitation Act 1980 (c. 58), section 11 (special time limit for actions in respect of personal injuries) (opens in new tab). legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Checked 20 July 2026.
- The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025 (S.I. 2025/1042) (opens in new tab). legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Checked 10 July 2026; data as at 27 October 2025.
- Awaab's Law: guidance for social landlords — Timeframes for repairs in the social rented sector (opens in new tab). GOV.UK (MHCLG). Checked 10 July 2026; data as at 27 October 2025.
- Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, section 42 (inserting s.10A LTA 1985) (opens in new tab). legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Checked 10 July 2026.