Housing Association 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.
Housing association repair help starts with the organisation named as your landlord. Report the defect through its repairs service and keep the confirmation. If visits, temporary fixes or repeated reports have not resolved the problem, ask for a clear repair plan and use the complaints procedure where needed. Housing Repair Help can help with a possible disrepair claim enquiry, but does not carry out repairs or provide emergency call-outs.
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 Housing Association Repair
Use the housing association’s official resident portal, repairs telephone line or published email address. Your local council is not automatically responsible for repairs simply because the home is social housing. If a contractor or managing agent attends, keep the landlord informed of unresolved work. Include your property address, the symptoms, dates of earlier reports and whether neighbouring or communal areas are also affected.
Describe the problem
Keep written confirmation
Ask what happens next
Repair Duties and Tenant Responsibilities
Housing association tenants in England generally benefit from Section 11 repairing duties covering the structure, exterior and essential installations for water, sanitation, gas, electricity, heating and hot water. The landlord should assess defects within its responsibilities, including leaks, faulty fixed heating and damaged building elements. Responsibilities can differ for tenant-owned appliances, tenant damage or leasehold and shared-ownership arrangements, so check your agreement rather than assuming every repair is covered.
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
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When Repairs Remain Unresolved
Contractor visits without a lasting repair
Record what the contractor did and whether the fault returned. Ask the housing association to investigate the underlying cause instead of treating each visit as a new, unrelated issue.
Shared building defects
Leaks from another flat, communal heating failures or defects in shared roofs can involve several teams. Describe the location and effects in your own home and ask your landlord who will coordinate the investigation and repair.
Responsibility is disputed
If the association says the repair is yours, request the inspection findings and the tenancy provision it relies on. Photographs and previous repair records can help an adviser assess the dispute.
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 housing association. 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 housing association 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 housing association 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.