Who Your Southwark Landlord Is Likely To Be
Southwark still manages its own housing directly, but large parts of the borough are owned by associations. Your tenancy agreement confirms which applies.
Southwark Council Housing
Council landlord
London's largest council landlord, running its own repairs contact centre, a damp and mould reporting route and a two-stage complaints process.
Peabody
Housing association
Long-standing estates across Southwark, including Victorian and early twentieth-century blocks.
Notting Hill Genesis and L&Q
Housing association
Significant stock in regeneration areas around Elephant and Castle, Bermondsey and Canada Water.
Private landlords and letting agents
Private rented
Southwark's private sector housing team can inspect hazards under the HHSRS and require the landlord to remove them.
Covering tenants across Southwark including Peckham, Camberwell, Walworth, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Nunhead, Elephant and Castle and Dulwich.
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.
How Repairs Are Reported in Southwark
Southwark Council tenants report repairs through the council's repairs service and My Southwark tenant account, and each job should carry a reference number. Leaseholders and housing association tenants report through their own landlord.
Report in writing wherever possible. A dated written report with a job reference is the evidence that later shows how long the landlord has known about the problem. Photograph the affected rooms each month with the date visible, and note every appointment that is cancelled, missed or closed as complete while the problem continues.
- Emergency (24 hours): total loss of heating or hot water, an uncontrollable leak, unsafe electrics or an insecure property.
- Urgent (a few working days): partial loss of an essential service, or a leak that is contained but continuing.
- Routine (weeks): plaster damage, joinery, non-urgent roofing and external repairs.
- Damp and mould: Awaab's Law sets fixed investigation deadlines for social landlords and requires immediate action on significant hazards.
Council House Disrepair in Southwark
Council house disrepair in Southwark can involve persistent leaks, defective heating, damaged windows or structural problems. For council tenants in England, Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 generally requires the landlord to keep the structure, exterior and essential installations for water, sanitation, heating and electricity in repair. Responsibility depends on the defect and tenancy; not every maintenance issue is the council’s responsibility.
Check your tenancy agreement before reporting: a former council home may now belong to a housing association. If the council is your landlord, use its official repairs service and describe the affected rooms, when the problem began and any immediate safety concerns. Keep the job reference and follow a telephone report with an email or written confirmation. Use the landlord’s emergency reporting route for an immediate hazard rather than waiting for a claim assessment.
If repairs remain outstanding, keep dated photographs, appointment records and copies of reminders. Ask for an update and use the landlord’s formal complaints procedure if the response does not resolve the problem. The Housing Ombudsman can help with complaints about social landlords in England; its complaint process is separate from a legal claim.
Specialist review may be worth exploring where the council knew about a defect within its repairing responsibilities but did not act within a reasonable time. Evidence, urgency and the impact on your household matter; compensation is not automatic. Our council house disrepair guide explains the reporting and claim considerations in more detail.
Housing Association Disrepair in Southwark
Housing association disrepair in Southwark should be reported to the organisation named as your landlord, rather than automatically to the local council. The local landlord information above includes Peabody, Notting Hill Genesis and L&Q; check your tenancy agreement to confirm which organisation is responsible for your home. Housing associations have repairing obligations for the structure, exterior and essential services. Their own reporting channels and repair policies explain how to request work.
Use your landlord’s repairs portal, email address or telephone service, and save confirmation of each report. Explain whether the problem is recurring, whether an earlier repair failed and how it affects daily use of the home. Tell the landlord about relevant health concerns or household vulnerabilities so it can consider urgency. Keep photographs over time, repair references, contractor messages and a record of missed or cancelled visits.
A visit does not necessarily mean the underlying defect has been resolved. If a leak returns, heating remains unreliable or mould reappears, report the continuing problem and refer to the earlier job number. Ask what work remains and when you can expect an update. Where repair requests are repeatedly ignored or closed without a lasting repair, make a formal complaint and request escalation through the association’s complaints procedure if needed.
The Housing Ombudsman offers a free complaint route for social housing tenants in England. Specialist legal advice may also be appropriate if the landlord has been notified but a repair within its responsibilities remains unresolved. A solicitor can assess the evidence and explain possible options without guaranteeing a claim outcome. Read our guide to housing associations ignoring repairs for practical next steps.
Disrepair Issues Common to Southwark Housing
Southwark's estates include large post-war blocks, Victorian conversions and recent regeneration schemes, and each produces its own pattern of disrepair.
Condensation damp on post-war estates
Solid-wall and system-built blocks across Walworth, Peckham and Bermondsey have limited insulation and weak ventilation, so cold bridging and black mould are widely reported.
Communal heating failures
Several Southwark estates run district or communal heating. When the system fails, whole blocks lose heating and hot water — an emergency repair.
Leaks between flats and from flat roofs
Shared soil stacks, failed flat roofs and leaks from the flat above are common, often with a dispute over which party is responsible.
Ageing high-rise stock
Window failures, water ingress at the facade and lift or communal-area disrepair are reported in the borough's older towers.
Defects in regeneration blocks
Newer developments around Elephant and Castle and Canada Water still report water ingress, faulty mechanical ventilation and condensation — all repair obligations.
Damp in Victorian conversions
Large houses in Camberwell, Nunhead and East Dulwich divided into flats produce persistent leaks and rising damp on lower floors.
Complaints Route and the Housing Ombudsman in Southwark
Southwark Council and every housing association in the borough must follow the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code, which gives you the same two-stage route.
Step 1 — Stage 1 complaint to your landlord
Put it in writing to Southwark Council housing or your housing association, quote every outstanding job reference and say what outcome you want. A Stage 1 response is due within 10 working days.
Step 2 — Stage 2 review
If the repair is still not done, ask for escalation to the landlord's final review stage. A response is due within 20 working days.
Step 3 — Housing Ombudsman Service
Once the landlord's process is exhausted, or it misses those deadlines, refer the case free of charge at housing-ombudsman.org.uk or on 0300 111 3000.
Step 4 — Environmental health or a disrepair claim
Private renters can ask Southwark's private sector housing team to inspect under the HHSRS. A legal disrepair claim can be pursued alongside any complaint.
Why Tenants Trust Us With Housing Disrepair Claims
Tell us about your housing problem
Complete our online enquiry form with details of the repairs you have reported and the problems you are experiencing.
Initial eligibility check
We review the information you provide to assess whether your enquiry meets our criteria for onward referral.
Save & Return
Your answers are saved as you go, so you can finish your claim later.
Independent solicitor referral
Where appropriate, we may share your enquiry with an independent specialist housing disrepair law firm. The firm will independently decide whether it can assess your circumstances and take your matter forward.
Start Your Southwark Housing Disrepair Claim
Tell us about the repairs your landlord has not carried out. Our panel of SRA-regulated solicitors will review your case free of charge, with no obligation.
Start Your ClaimNo obligation.
Guides for Southwark Tenants
How to report disrepair to the council
Building the written record your claim will rely on.
Repair timescales explained
What counts as emergency, urgent and routine work.
How compensation is calculated
Rent-reduction bands, belongings and typical settlements.
We also help tenants in London, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Camden.
Southwark Housing Disrepair: Frequently Asked Questions
Free Independent Advice
You do not have to use a claims service. Free, independent housing advice is available from Shelter, Citizens Advice and the Housing Ombudsman Service. This page is general information about the law in England and Wales, not legal advice about your own case.