Repairs and disrepair — Vivid

Before thinking about any legal claim, complain to Vivid. 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 — which is exactly the evidence a claim relies on later, if you need one.

Report the repair. Report non-emergency repairs through your online account (opens in new tab), or call Vivid free on 0800 652 0898. The same number takes emergency repairs at any time of day or night.^[9]

How Vivid's complaints process works. You can complain through the chat on your online account, by WhatsApp or in writing, and Vivid sets out its process on its complaints page (opens in new tab).^[7] Vivid says it acknowledges a complaint within 5 working days, and that a Stage 1 investigation takes up to 10 working days. If you are still unhappy, ask for a Stage 2 review within fifteen working days of the Stage 1 response; Vivid aims to give its outcome within 20 working days.^[7]

If the complaint doesn't fix it: the Housing Ombudsman. If you have been through Vivid's two stages and are still unhappy — or your complaint is not progressing — you can take it to the Housing Ombudsman.^[7] The service is independent, and you can contact it for advice at any point, not just at the end. It can order your landlord to carry out repairs, apologise, and pay you compensation.

Using the Ombudsman costs nothing, you do not need a claims company or a solicitor to do it, and nobody takes a fee or a share of anything it awards you.

Your local council. Vivid is not a council, but the council where you live can still send its environmental health team to inspect a home with a serious hazard.

Free advice. Shelter and Citizens Advice both offer free, independent housing advice, and 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, 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.

"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.

Condensation, damp and mould was one of the three issues the Ombudsman made findings on most often in Vivid's cases in 2025-26, with 13 findings counted.^[3]

You may have a claim against Vivid if all of these apply:

1. Vivid is your landlord. Check your tenancy agreement — the landlord named on it is what counts.
2. Vivid 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 — Vivid'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 Vivid building, you have rights too, though your repair rights depend 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 Vivid 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 reliable figure can be put on a claim before the evidence has been looked at. What a claim is worth depends on that assessment — how serious the disrepair was, how long it went on, and how it affected the household.

Step 1 — tell us what's happened. You answer some straightforward questions: what the problem is, when you reported it, what Vivid 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 Vivid 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.^[12] 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.^[12] 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.