Council Housing Repair Help
Housing Repair Help Editorial Team · Reviewed by Reclaim Experts Ltd, FCA authorised (FRN 1030701). Editorial standards.
Published 10 October 2026. Last reviewed and updated 10 October 2026.
Need council housing repair help? Start by reporting the defect to your council’s housing repairs service, keeping the reference and asking how it will be prioritised. If you have already reported it but the repair remains unresolved, keep a dated timeline and consider a formal complaint or specialist review. Housing Repair Help is a claims management service, not the council’s repairs team or an emergency repair contractor.
For immediate danger, use emergency services or your landlord’s emergency repair line. Do not wait for a claim assessment. Keep away from unsafe electrics, unstable ceilings or falling materials.
How to Report a Council Housing Repair
Check the landlord named on your tenancy agreement before contacting the council. Some former council homes are now owned by housing associations, while others have a managing organisation handling repairs on the council’s behalf. Use the repairs contact on your tenancy documents or the official council website, not the council tax department. Give your address, affected rooms, when the problem started and any immediate safety concerns.
Describe the problem
Keep written confirmation
Ask what happens next
Repair Duties and Tenant Responsibilities
For council tenancies in England, Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 generally requires the landlord to keep the structure and exterior in repair, together with installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and hot water. Roof leaks, defective pipework and failed landlord-supplied heating can fall within these duties. Responsibility for decoration, tenant-owned appliances or damage caused by a tenant may differ; the cause and tenancy terms need checking.
There is no single deadline for every repair. Urgency depends on the risk, household needs and applicable legal requirements, as well as the landlord’s policy. Ask how an immediate hazard will be made safe and what permanent work remains. This page explains routes for social housing tenants in England; complaint arrangements in Wales differ.
Who is Housing Repair Help?
The facts about who we are, how we work and what you pay, set out plainly.
Who operates the service
Housing Repair Help is a trading style of Reclaim Experts Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16058317) with its registered office at Innovation Centre, 49 Oxford Street, Leicester, LE1 5XY.
FCA status
Reclaim Experts Ltd is a Claims Management Company authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 1030701. You can check its entry on the FCA Register. It is also registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number ZB869483).
What our role is
We provide free, plain-English information about housing disrepair, run a free eligibility check based on the details and evidence you provide, and help organise photos, reports and correspondence into a clear case file. Housing Repair Help is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal representation.
What happens after you submit an enquiry
Every enquiry is reviewed against the same criteria before it is passed on: whether the disrepair falls within the landlord's repairing obligations, whether the landlord was told about the problem and given a reasonable chance to fix it, the severity of the problem, the quality of the evidence, and how long it has continued. If your case is not suitable we tell you and point you to free routes such as the Housing Ombudsman Service, Citizens Advice and Shelter.
Our relationship with the solicitor
Suitable cases are introduced to specialist housing disrepair solicitors on our panel. Those firms are independent of us and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. They decide whether to take a case on, and any legal advice comes from them once they have been formally instructed and a client care agreement is in place.
How referrals work
When a case is suitable, we pass it to a specialist housing disrepair solicitor on our panel. Reclaim Experts Ltd receives a fee from the solicitor for any successful recommendation. You are never charged for the introduction.
What you pay
You pay nothing to Housing Repair Help. We do not charge tenants a fee for our eligibility check or our introduction service.
What "No Win No Fee" means
The solicitors on our panel may offer to run your claim under a No Win No Fee agreement. Under such an agreement, the solicitor's fee is only payable if your claim succeeds, and is then usually recovered from your compensation. If your claim does not succeed, you do not pay the solicitor a fee for their time. The solicitor will explain the full terms before you sign anything, and you are free to choose a solicitor of your own instead.
Start Your Claim
Begin your housing disrepair claim. First, a few questions about your home — then we'll take you through the rest.
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When Repairs Remain Unresolved
Passed between departments
If the housing office, managing organisation and contractor keep referring you elsewhere, ask the landlord to confirm who owns the repair and provide one job reference. Keep copies of every response rather than restarting the history with each team.
Waiting for planned works
A future roof, window or estate improvement programme does not by itself explain how a current leak or safety concern will be managed. Ask for an inspection, any temporary safety measures and a written update on the outstanding defect.
A job marked complete
If a contractor closes the job but the fault continues, report that the repair has not resolved the problem. Refer to the previous job number and photograph the continuing damage safely.
Evidence That Helps Explain the Problem
Keep dated photographs, repair references, messages, inspection findings and missed appointment records. A short timeline is often more useful than an unorganised collection of screenshots. Where relevant, retain receipts for damaged belongings or extra costs and records of health effects. Do not put yourself at risk to take photographs or disturb suspected hazardous materials.
Complaints and Free Independent Help
If repair follow-ups do not resolve the issue, make a formal Stage 1 complaint to your council. Set out the report dates, failed appointments, current condition and outcome you want. If you remain dissatisfied, request Stage 2, the landlord’s final complaint stage. Keep both responses.
The Housing Ombudsman provides a free service for complaints about social landlords in England. You can seek help getting a response while a complaint is ongoing; an investigation normally follows the final landlord response. Tell it if the landlord will not respond. A complaint is separate from court action: ask for advice before pursuing overlapping routes, as legal proceedings can affect what the Ombudsman considers.
You do not have to use a claims management service. Shelter and Citizens Advice offer independent housing information. Continue paying rent; an outstanding repair does not automatically justify withholding it.
When a Disrepair Claim May Be Worth Exploring
Specialist review may be appropriate if your council knew about a defect within its responsibilities but did not put it right within a reasonable time. The severity, duration, evidence and effects on your household matter. A solicitor can explain whether repairs, compensation or another route may be appropriate; no outcome is guaranteed.
Housing Repair Help is operated by Reclaim Experts Ltd, an FCA-authorised claims management company, not a law firm. Suitable enquiries may be referred to the panel of solicitors. Any representation and No Win No Fee terms are agreed directly with the solicitor; read the fee agreement before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Reported repairs still unresolved?
If you need council housing repair help after reporting an unresolved defect, you can submit your details for a possible claim review.
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Further Reading
This article provides general information about housing issues in England and Wales and does not constitute legal advice. Legal services may be provided by independent solicitors where appropriate.