Guide

How much compensation for housing disrepair?

A data-led guide to typical Housing Ombudsman compensation amounts for damp, mould, repair delays and other disrepair problems.

By the Landlord Record research team

Independent analysis of published Housing Ombudsman decisions. Last updated: 30 May 2026.

Resident documenting damp and repair-delay evidence for a housing disrepair compensation guide.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Landlord Record is independent and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Housing Ombudsman Service. We organise and analyse decisions published under the Open Government Licence.

In the current Landlord Record dataset, the typical Housing Ombudsman compensation award is £500, with an average award of £778. The middle range is £200 to £900, but housing disrepair compensation depends heavily on the issue, the severity, the duration and the evidence.

Our index currently holds 18,208 Housing Ombudsman decisions across 627 landlords. Compensation is recorded in 12,678 ordered-award decisions, totalling £9,863,720. Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (Open Government Licence v3.0).

Use these figures as a benchmark, not a promise. The Ombudsman decides each complaint on its own facts. A short delay with limited impact can lead to a very different outcome from months of unresolved damp, repeated missed appointments, poor complaint handling or evidence that the resident's health, belongings or use of the home was seriously affected.

What the Housing Ombudsman actually awards

The table below shows real compensation distribution by issue tag. A decision can involve more than one issue, so rows should not be added together. The median is usually the best quick benchmark because a small number of very high awards can pull the average upwards.

Issue	Typical award	Middle range	Decisions
Complaint handling delay	£500	£250 to £950	10,658
Repairs delay	£600	£300 to £1,100	8,012
Damp and mould	£800	£400 to £1,425	4,159
Record keeping	£600	£300 to £1,100	3,693
Leak water ingress	£750	£375 to £1,300	3,045
Communication failure	£500	£250 to £850	2,635
Asb	£350	£200 to £650	1,757
Decant	£978	£475 to £2,100	1,083
Heating hot water	£550	£250 to £1,052	1,074
Service charge	£300	£150 to £582	910
Poor communication	£600	£350 to £1,050	879
Complaint handling	£300	£150 to £700	879
Vulnerable resident	£700	£350 to £1,300	810
Disrepair	£950	£500 to £1,759	744
Vulnerability	£750	£400 to £1,400	677
Noise nuisance	£350	£200 to £650	672
Record keeping failure	£700	£350 to £1,350	634
Missed appointments	£650	£350 to £1,100	485
Pest infestation	£600	£250 to £1,150	450
Communication failures	£700	£400 to £1,100	434
Communication	£400	£160 to £700	427
Compensation	£425	£200 to £1,015	387
Risk assessment	£500	£300 to £850	361
Staff conduct	£300	£150 to £650	355
Asbestos	£600	£400 to £1,150	339
Fire safety	£488	£250 to £850	298
Ventilation	£650	£400 to £1,150	258
Reasonable adjustments	£550	£250 to £950	253
Roof repair	£750	£400 to £1,335	221
Roof leak	£750	£400 to £1,350	213
Rehousing	£450	£200 to £792	198
Poor record keeping	£600	£350 to £1,131	194
Window repairs	£708	£400 to £1,200	194
Health and safety	£585	£350 to £1,000	191
Condensation	£520	£300 to £1,005	189
Temporary accommodation	£800	£450 to £1,500	172
Missed appointment	£368	£150 to £706	172
Complaint handling failure	£300	£150 to £550	167
Drainage	£575	£250 to £1,108	160
Communal cleaning	£350	£150 to £600	154
Water ingress	£800	£400 to £1,320	152
Window repair	£700	£375 to £1,451	149
Communal repairs	£450	£250 to £750	145
Adaptations	£400	£200 to £925	143
Risk assessment failure	£650	£350 to £1,000	142
Grounds maintenance	£300	£150 to £550	142
Pest control	£548	£300 to £940	142
Windows	£700	£400 to £1,300	139
Access issues	£500	£225 to £900	139
Neighbour dispute	£258	£100 to £500	134
Mediation	£300	£150 to £500	131
Mutual exchange	£450	£200 to £1,000	125
Window replacement	£688	£350 to £1,212	120
Compensation dispute	£500	£225 to £1,025	117
Bathroom repairs	£700	£375 to £1,323	115
Electrical safety	£685	£306 to £1,200	114
Management transfer	£500	£250 to £800	113
Cctv	£350	£150 to £675	113
Extractor fan	£625	£350 to £1,062	108
Subsidence	£800	£450 to £1,375	105
Kitchen repairs	£600	£300 to £1,025	103
Overcrowding	£500	£250 to £900	101
Guttering	£550	£250 to £1,168	100
Parking	£300	£100 to £650	98
Poor workmanship	£700	£375 to £1,000	95
Contractor conduct	£400	£200 to £775	95
Gas safety	£338	£150 to £600	94
Roof repairs	£750	£400 to £1,250	94
Equality act	£838	£600 to £1,500	94
Rent arrears	£325	£150 to £746	94
Scaffolding	£650	£300 to £1,200	93
Compensation delay	£600	£300 to £1,135	93
Delay	£700	£475 to £1,250	92
Safeguarding	£525	£250 to £1,138	90
Insulation	£600	£300 to £1,050	90
Insurance claim	£625	£300 to £1,200	89
Contractor oversight	£710	£450 to £1,200	89
Communal areas	£300	£150 to £575	89
Noise	£300	£150 to £700	87
Section 20 consultation	£700	£250 to £1,000	87
Disability	£500	£250 to £1,000	85
Information request	£250	£150 to £400	85
Kitchen replacement	£600	£300 to £1,000	83
Action plan	£475	£250 to £800	80
Fly tipping	£375	£200 to £694	78
Health impact	£1,280	£675 to £2,622	76
Flooring	£560	£162 to £940	75
Major works	£350	£162 to £800	75
Contractor management	£800	£425 to £1,283	74
Anti social behaviour	£375	£231 to £750	74
Boiler repair	£415	£165 to £750	72
Garden maintenance	£400	£250 to £800	70
New build defects	£450	£250 to £969	70
Management move	£500	£275 to £700	69
Transfer request	£400	£200 to £712	68
Front door	£600	£350 to £966	66
Vulnerability support	£500	£300 to £962	64
Communication delay	£250	£138 to £500	64
Leak	£900	£600 to £1,510	64
Flooding	£600	£275 to £1,015	63
Communal door	£400	£238 to £650	63
Vulnerability recording	£600	£360 to £1,188	63
Vulnerable household	£1,070	£656 to £1,630	62
Noise transference	£475	£200 to £700	62
Fence repair	£300	£200 to £600	61
Cladding	£400	£250 to £750	61
Planned works	£400	£225 to £600	61
Compensation inadequate	£600	£388 to £1,012	60
Fencing	£500	£200 to £862	59
Covid 19	£250	£112 to £450	58
Ceiling collapse	£900	£585 to £1,612	58
Communal lighting	£400	£200 to £650	57
Boiler	£600	£300 to £1,300	57
Loss of amenity	£1,756	£970 to £3,022	56
Heating	£600	£250 to £1,290	55
Planned works delay	£500	£200 to £788	55
Loft insulation	£789	£312 to £1,188	54
Pests	£500	£250 to £1,100	53
Security	£425	£244 to £862	52
Information request delay	£350	£244 to £600	52
Soundproofing	£400	£194 to £712	52
Draughts	£500	£288 to £712	52
Trip hazard	£550	£350 to £989	51
Antisocial behaviour	£650	£325 to £1,075	51
Damp	£500	£250 to £871	51
Right to buy	£375	£162 to £738	50
Shared ownership	£350	£150 to £800	49
Disability access	£575	£338 to £1,200	48
Complaint escalation	£300	£150 to £725	48
Rehousing request	£575	£212 to £950	47
Wet room	£550	£300 to £925	47
Energy costs	£700	£350 to £1,140	46
Hate crime	£575	£350 to £800	46
Rent account	£300	£200 to £620	45
Boundary dispute	£425	£188 to £562	44
Inspection delay	£425	£188 to £625	43
Rodent infestation	£650	£400 to £1,250	43
Vulnerable residents	£920	£550 to £1,475	43
Aids and adaptations	£675	£400 to £1,348	42
Managing agent	£450	£300 to £812	42
Expectation management	£300	£200 to £500	41
Door repair	£600	£400 to £800	41
Mental health	£350	£200 to £1,000	41
Excess cold	£950	£400 to £1,300	41
Damaged belongings	£675	£438 to £1,344	40
Front door repair	£500	£344 to £1,068	40
Lift breakdown	£500	£208 to £662	40
Inspection failure	£350	£212 to £650	39
Ews1	£450	£300 to £655	39
Door replacement	£500	£300 to £750	39
Complaint delay	£500	£285 to £890	39
Reimbursement	£300	£150 to £681	38
Defects	£475	£200 to £888	38
Communication failings	£450	£206 to £1,200	38
Compensation request	£300	£200 to £700	38
Domestic abuse	£400	£200 to £900	37
Noise disturbance	£300	£150 to £500	37
Evidence gathering	£300	£188 to £525	36
Succession	£500	£200 to £900	35
Risk assessment delay	£500	£300 to £800	35
Boiler replacement	£578	£175 to £851	35
Lift repair	£700	£312 to £933	35
Hot water	£650	£250 to £895	35
Redecoration	£500	£188 to £846	35
Flooring damage	£412	£235 to £819	34
Vulnerability assessment	£460	£300 to £738	34
Fire door	£550	£250 to £1,000	33
Compensation policy	£400	£150 to £750	33
Discrimination	£475	£238 to £925	32
Energy efficiency	£350	£225 to £648	32
Cavity wall insulation	£575	£138 to £1,081	32
Complaint not logged	£275	£100 to £481	32
Void property	£450	£282 to £771	32
Shower repair	£550	£200 to £1,266	32
Tree maintenance	£450	£175 to £672	31
Lighting	£550	£200 to £925	31
Communal area	£285	£100 to £550	31
Water pressure	£600	£300 to £1,175	31
Harassment	£400	£200 to £650	31
Damage to belongings	£888	£450 to £1,569	30
Rat infestation	£862	£600 to £1,825	30
Temporary heating	£600	£215 to £1,012	30
Heat loss	£920	£462 to £1,269	30
Gas leak	£500	£278 to £720	30
Action plan failure	£500	£350 to £638	30

Source: Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (Open Government Licence v3.0).

For disrepair, the most useful comparison is usually the issue closest to your problem. Damp and mould, leak and water ingress, heating and hot water, repairs delay and complaint-handling delay can all sit inside a wider repairs complaint. If your case involves several failures, compare the whole pattern rather than picking the highest row.

Also look at what the award was compensating. A disrepair decision may include money for the physical condition of the home, but it may also include complaint handling, missed appointments, poor communication, delay in arranging inspections, failure to follow a surveyor's recommendation, or failure to keep adequate records. Two cases can both involve damp and mould but sit in different parts of the range because the landlord response was different.

A useful way to read the table is to start with the median, then ask whether your facts make the case weaker or stronger than a typical published decision. A weaker case might be one where the landlord inspected quickly, completed work within a reasonable period and gave clear complaint responses, even if the final outcome was frustrating. A stronger case might involve repeated reports, failed repairs, avoidable delay, unclear ownership inside the landlord, or evidence that the resident could not use parts of the home normally.

Do not treat the highest award as a realistic starting point. High outliers usually reflect unusual facts, several linked failures, serious impact, or a long period before the problem was properly resolved. The average can move upwards because of those outliers. For most readers asking "how much compensation can you get for housing disrepair?", the median and middle range are more useful than the maximum.

In the same live index, repairs delay appears in 10,035 decisions and damp and mould appears in 5,081 decisions . That tells you how common the issue is in published decisions, not what your award will be.

How redress is calculated

The Housing Ombudsman does not use a fixed tariff for housing disrepair compensation. Its remedies guidance says remedies should be fair, proportionate and based on the individual circumstances of the case. Compensation is one possible remedy, alongside apologies, completing repairs, taking specific action, reviewing policies and changing processes.

The main redress categories are practical rather than formulaic. The Ombudsman may look at distress and inconvenience, quantifiable financial loss, and the time and trouble you had to spend pursuing the complaint. It also looks at the seriousness of the failing, how long it lasted, whether the landlord had a reasonable chance to put it right, whether the landlord already offered redress, and the cumulative impact on you.

That is why a simple "average housing disrepair compensation" figure can mislead. The median gives a useful centre point, but the facts still matter: whether the landlord knew about the defect, whether inspections or repairs were delayed, whether temporary fixes failed, whether complaint responses were late, and whether you can evidence the impact. Keep repair reports, photographs, complaint emails, inspection notes, medical evidence where relevant, receipts and a dated record of contact.

Financial loss is treated differently from general inconvenience. If you paid for something because the landlord failed to act, keep the receipt and explain why the cost was necessary. If belongings were damaged, keep photographs, inventories and any insurance information. If you are claiming that a room could not be used properly, keep a dated record of how the problem affected daily life. The Ombudsman is evidence-led, so a clear timeline can matter as much as the label attached to the repair.

Complaint handling can also affect redress. A landlord may eventually complete the repair but still have handled the complaint poorly by missing response deadlines, failing to escalate, giving unclear updates or not learning from earlier reports. In those situations, compensation may recognise the extra time and trouble caused by the complaint process, not just the original disrepair.

The Ombudsman can also decide that non-financial remedies are more important than money. It may order the landlord to inspect, complete works, apologise, review a policy, change a process, train staff or check whether the same problem affects other residents. When you estimate your own outcome, think about the remedy you actually need. A fair result may be a mix of completed repairs, explanation, apology, process change and compensation.

Disrepair claim vs the free Ombudsman route

A housing disrepair claim is a legal claim, usually about whether the landlord breached repair or fitness obligations and what damages or other court remedies should follow. A court claim can involve formal procedure, legal costs, expert evidence and litigation risk. Before court, the housing conditions pre-action protocol expects the parties to exchange information and try to narrow or resolve the dispute.

The Housing Ombudsman route is different. For social housing tenants, you normally complain to the landlord first and can then escalate to the Ombudsman if the complaint remains unresolved. The Ombudsman route is free, independent and focused on whether the landlord's handling amounted to service failure or maladministration. It can order compensation, but it does not award damages in the same way as a court.

Landlord Record is not a solicitor and does not run claims. If you are comparing routes, start with the evidence and the outcome you need. If you mainly need repairs completed, an apology, complaint handling put right and an Ombudsman compensation benchmark, the free complaint route may be the practical first step. If you are considering litigation, read the process carefully and consider independent legal advice. See our plain-English guide to how housing disrepair claims work.

The route can also affect timing and control. In the Ombudsman process, the complaint is considered against the landlord's obligations, published guidance and what would be fair in the circumstances. In court, the case is framed as a legal claim and may require pleadings, expert evidence, disclosure and formal settlement discussions. Neither route should be chosen only because a headline award looks attractive. Start with the problem, the evidence, the repair still needed and the risk you are prepared to take.

If you are still inside the landlord's complaint process, keep the complaint focused. Identify the defect, when you reported it, what happened next, what impact it had, what records support that account and what you want the landlord to do. That same timeline will help whether the case later goes to the Ombudsman, a solicitor or another advice service.

Estimate your own award

To make the data usable, Landlord Record provides an Ombudsman compensation calculator. It is not a legal valuation and it cannot predict an individual decision. It uses the same live award distribution behind this guide to show where past published decisions sit.

The best way to use it is to choose the issue closest to your complaint, then adjust your expectations for severity. A case involving short inconvenience and a prompt repair should not be compared with a long-running failure affecting several rooms, repeated appointments, poor communication and months of complaint chasing.

If your complaint involves more than one issue, run more than one comparison and then read the decision examples behind the numbers. The calculator is designed to orient you in the published Ombudsman data, not to replace judgement. A well-evidenced moderate case can be stronger than a serious allegation with a thin timeline, and a completed repair can still leave a separate question about distress, inconvenience or complaint handling.

You can also browse the underlying records for damp and mould and responsive repairs, compare the highest-compensation rankings, or read the programme pages for responsive-repairs compensation. The category pages are useful when your complaint is broader than a single issue tag.

Sources

The compensation figures on this page come from Landlord Record's structured analysis of published Housing Ombudsman decisions under the Open Government Licence. For the official remedies approach, read the Housing Ombudsman guidance on remedies .

For court-route context, see the GOV.UK page on housing disrepair claims , the GOV.UK page on making a court claim for money , and the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims (England) . For tax treatment, HMRC guidance on compensation for personal wrong or injury explains the general capital gains tax position. Take advice if your award includes rent, reimbursement, property damage, business income or another specific payment type.

Frequently asked questions

How much compensation can I get for housing disrepair?

In Landlord Record's current Housing Ombudsman compensation data, the median ordered award is £500 and the average is £778. The middle range is £200 to £900. Your own figure depends on the fault, evidence, duration and impact.

How much compensation can I get for damp and mould?

For damp-and-mould decisions in the current Landlord Record dataset that include compensation, the median award is £800 across 4,159 compensation decisions. The middle range is £400 to £1,425.

How does a housing disrepair claim work?

A housing disrepair claim is a court route, normally after the landlord has had notice of the problem and a chance to fix it. The parties are expected to follow the housing conditions pre-action protocol before court. Social housing tenants can also use the landlord complaint process and then the Housing Ombudsman route.

Can I sue my landlord for mould and damp?

You may be able to bring a housing disrepair claim if your landlord is legally responsible, has had notice and has not put the problem right. Court claims are different from the free Housing Ombudsman route, so take advice before starting litigation.

How much compensation can you get from the council?

Council landlords are assessed under the same Housing Ombudsman remedies approach as other social landlords. For responsive-repairs compensation decisions across all landlord types in this dataset, the median award is £550 across 11,539 compensation decisions.

Is housing disrepair compensation taxable?

Often, compensation for distress, inconvenience or injury to the person is not treated like ordinary income, but tax depends on what the payment is for. A rent refund, reimbursement or payment linked to a business or asset can be different. Check HMRC guidance or take tax advice for your own award.