Repairs and disrepair — Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council's repairs record is relatively strong — a C1 regulator grade,[1] and a Housing Ombudsman maladministration rate below the national average.[2] Even so, in 2024-25 the Ombudsman made 61 maladministration findings, the largest share about leaks, damp and mould,[2] so if repairs in your home have gone undone you may be able to claim.
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.
Complain to Westminster City Council first — how to do it
Before thinking about any legal claim, report the repair and — if it is not put right — complain to the council. Both are free, both are often the fastest way to get repairs moving, and both create the written record any later claim relies on.
Report the repair first. Tell the council what needs fixing through its repairs service: you can report a repair online through the MyWestminsterHousing portal, or by calling the freephone repairs line on 0800 358 3783, which also takes emergency repairs at any hour.[8] Note the date you reported it and keep any reference number.
If it is not fixed, complain. The council runs a two-stage complaints process, aligned to the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code, and you can start a housing complaint online or by phone through its housing complaints page. At stage 1, the council acknowledges your complaint within 5 working days and gives a written response within 10 working days of that acknowledgement. If you are unhappy with the answer, you can ask for a stage 2 review — which you need to request within three months of the stage 1 response — acknowledged within 5 working days and answered within 20 working days of that acknowledgement.[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 the council is not progressing your complaint — you can take it to the Housing Ombudsman. The service is free and independent. The Ombudsman can do more than look into your complaint: it can order your landlord to carry out repairs, apologise, and pay you compensation. You do not need a claims company or a solicitor, and nobody takes a fee or a share of anything it awards you.
If you want free, independent advice, Shelter and Citizens Advice offer housing advice, and a local law centre can tell you whether you qualify for legal aid — available for disrepair that is a serious risk to health or safety, but not 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.
Could you have a disrepair claim against Westminster City Council?
If you rent your home from Westminster City Council, you have legal rights when repairs go undone. The City of Westminster owns or manages around 21,220 homes;[2] the regulator records that it owns roughly 12,000 social-rented homes.[1] Its housing was run by an arm's-length company, CityWest Homes, until the service was brought back in-house in 2019, and the council has managed its homes directly since.[6]
"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 Westminster City Council if all of these apply:
- Westminster City 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 council's published repair targets and the Awaab's Law timescales for damp and mould are a guide, and the FAQs below explain them.
- 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 different from a tenant's. Westminster manages its homes directly, so where the council owns your home, the council is your landlord.[1]
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 the evidence. What matters is how serious the disrepair was, how long it continued after the council knew, and how it affected your household and your belongings.
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.[9] 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 Westminster City 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 Westminster City Council is your landlord, it knew about the damp or mould (usually because you reported it), and it failed to deal with the problem in a reasonable time, you may be able to bring a housing disrepair claim. Damp and mould can put the council in breach of its repair duties under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and its duty to keep your home fit for human habitation. Since 27 October 2025, Awaab's Law has also set legally binding timescales for social landlords, including councils, to investigate and act on damp and mould. Complain to the council first — it is free and often the quickest way to get repairs done — and a claim can then deal with compensation and any work still outstanding.
Since 27 October 2025, Awaab's Law has set legally binding timescales for social landlords, including councils. Where a report of damp and mould could be a significant hazard, the landlord must investigate within 10 working days, give you a written summary of the findings within 3 working days of the investigation concluding, and — where a significant hazard is found — complete the work needed to make the home safe within 5 working days of the investigation concluding; an emergency hazard must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. If the safety work cannot be completed in that time, Awaab's Law requires the landlord to offer the household suitable alternative accommodation at no cost while the work is finished. Westminster's own published repair targets sit alongside these legal timescales — for an emergency it aims to attend within 2 hours and make the home safe within 24 hours.
The Housing Ombudsman investigates complaints tenants bring against their landlord once the landlord's own complaints process is exhausted. In its most recent report on Westminster it found a maladministration rate below the national average, and one that had improved on the year before, while the largest area of failure was the condition of people's homes — leaks, damp and mould above all. The full figures, and how they compare, are set out on the council's main Westminster page.
When the Regulator of Social Housing first assessed the council under its new consumer regime, it gave Westminster its strongest consumer grade. A strong grade is good news, but it is about the council's overall performance across all its homes, not a verdict on yours — and your rights are the same whatever grade your landlord holds. The grade, and what the regulator found, are set out on the council's main Westminster page.
No. The regulator's C1 grade is its view of how Westminster is performing as a landlord across all its homes — it does not change your legal rights, and it is not a verdict on your home. Your rights under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the duty to keep your home fit to live in, and Awaab's Law are exactly the same whatever grade your landlord holds. Even in a stronger year, the Housing Ombudsman still made dozens of maladministration findings against the council, many of them about repairs to leaks, damp and mould. If you have reported a problem and it has not been put right in a reasonable time, you may still have a claim.
Westminster's published targets are to attend within 2 hours and make the home safe within 24 hours for an emergency, 7 working days for an urgent repair, and 28 working days for a non-urgent, routine repair; certain small urgent repairs are also covered by the statutory "Right to Repair" scheme, on a 1-to-7-working-day basis. In its 2025/26 tenant satisfaction survey, 63.2% of tenants said they were satisfied with the repairs service. For damp, mould and other serious hazards, the legally binding Awaab's Law timescales also apply.
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. Westminster runs a two-stage complaints process: a stage 1 written response within 10 working days of acknowledgement, and a stage 2 review answered within 20 working days of acknowledgement. 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 the council to carry out repairs, apologise and pay compensation, with no fee to pay and nobody taking a share of anything it awards. A disrepair claim through the courts is a different route: it is normally done through a solicitor, and it may be worth considering where serious disrepair has gone on for a long time or the free routes have not put things right. Remedy Legal is not a law firm: we check whether you may have a claim, and if your case is strong, we connect you with an independent, regulated law firm. Your first conversation with us is always free, and we will be upfront about what your case needs before you commit.
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.
About this data
Information on this page was last checked on 30 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
- City of Westminster Council (00BK) – Regulatory Judgement: 26 February 2025 (opens in new tab). Regulator of Social Housing (GOV.UK). Checked 30 July 2026; data as at 26 February 2025.
- Landlord Performance Report 2024/25 – Westminster City Council (data refreshed May 2025) (opens in new tab). Housing Ombudsman Service. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 31 March 2025.
- Tenant Satisfaction Measures (2025/26 results) (opens in new tab). Westminster City Council. Checked 30 July 2026; data as at 31 March 2026.
- Housing complaints (opens in new tab). Westminster City Council. Checked 30 July 2026.
- Response times (housing repairs) (opens in new tab). Westminster City Council. Checked 30 July 2026.
- CityWest Homes (opens in new tab). Wikipedia. Checked 12 July 2026.
- Westminster to bring housing ALMO back in-house (opens in new tab). LocalGov. Checked 12 July 2026; data as at 1 September 2018.
- How to report a repair (opens in new tab). Westminster City Council. Checked 30 July 2026.
- 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.