Repairs and disrepair — Wandsworth Council

Report the repair first. Report a non-urgent repair online through a Wandsworth Housing Online account. For an emergency repair in working hours, contact your area housing team — the numbers are on the council's housing contacts page — and at any other time call 020 8871 8999, the housing-emergencies line the council lists as 24-hour.^[12] Reporting it puts the problem on record and starts the clock on the council's duties.

If a repair is reported and not put right in a reasonable time, 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 — and it creates the written record any later claim relies on.

Wandsworth's complaints process. The council runs a two-stage complaints process. At stage 1, which it calls an investigation, it gives a written response within 10 working days, extendable by a further 10 for more complex complaints. If you are still unhappy, you can ask for a stage 2 review, answered within 20 working days, again extendable by a further 20.^[9] At the end of stage 2, the council gives you the contact details for the Housing Ombudsman.^[9] If your home is run by a tenant or co-operative management organisation, its complaints may follow a separate process.^[1]

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 for advice at any point. It can order the landlord to carry out repairs, apologise and pay compensation, with no fee and nobody taking a share of any award.

For free, independent advice at any point, Shelter and Citizens Advice both offer housing advice. A local law centre can tell you whether you qualify for legal aid — for disrepair it can be available where there is a serious risk to health or safety, though not normally for a compensation-only claim. Complaining first is the right move in almost every case: if the repairs still don't happen, the record you have built makes any claim stronger.

The London Borough of Wandsworth — usually just "Wandsworth Council" — is a local-authority landlord that manages its homes directly, through four area housing teams covering the borough, rather than through an arm's-length company.^[1][10]

"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 Wandsworth Council if all of these apply:

1. Wandsworth 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 your texts, emails, photos, and repair reference numbers are gold. Keep them.
3. It failed to fix the problem in a reasonable time. What is "reasonable" depends on the problem and how serious it is.
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, though the route is a little different. Some Wandsworth homes are run day-to-day by a tenant or co-operative management organisation, which has its own separate complaints process — but where the council owns the home, the council remains your landlord.^[1]

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. A proper assessment looks at what happened, how long it went on after the council knew, and how it affected your household.

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, they take it from there — advising you, notifying the council formally, and usually arranging an independent inspection of your home — and we will be upfront about what that involves before you commit to anything. 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 put the problem right, though a claim that includes compensation for injury to health is usually subject to a shorter three-year limit.^[13] So 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.