What to Do If Your Landlord Won't Fix Repairs

If your landlord will not fix repairs, you have a clear escalation path: report the issue in writing, raise a formal complaint, and — if the matter remains unresolved — take it to the Housing Ombudsman or your local council\'s environmental health team. Legal action is available as a last resort, but most cases are settled well before that stage.

Repair delays are one of the most common themes in Housing Ombudsman decisions. Our analysis shows 11,274 decisions involving repair delays in the published determinations we index. — Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (OGL v3.0)

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.

Step 1: Report the repair in writing

The first step is always to report the problem to your landlord formally and in writing. A phone call is not enough — you need a record. Email is usually fine, but if you post a letter, keep a copy and send it by recorded delivery.

In your report, include: the exact nature of the defect, the date you first noticed it, any effect on your health or daily life, and photographs if it is safe to take them. Ask for a reference number and an estimated timeframe for the work.

Most social landlords have a repairs line or online portal. Use it, but follow up in writing if you do not receive an acknowledgment within a few days. This written record becomes essential evidence if you later escalate the complaint.

Step 2: Make a formal complaint

If the repair is not carried out within a reasonable time, or if the landlord refuses outright, you should escalate to a formal complaint. Social landlords in England must have a complaints policy that complies with the Housing Ombudsman\'s Complaint Handling Code. The code sets out time limits for responses and the right to escalation. For more detail on how long a landlord has to fix repairs, see our guide on repair timeframes .

Your complaint should reference your original repair report, the dates you contacted the landlord, and the lack of response or action. Request a written response and a clear timeline for the repair. The landlord should acknowledge your complaint promptly and provide a stage-one response within ten working days in most cases.

If the stage-one response is inadequate, you can usually request a stage-two review. At this point the complaint should be handled by a more senior officer. For a detailed walkthrough of the complaints process, see our guide on how to complain to a housing association .

Step 3: Escalate to the Ombudsman or environmental health

If the landlord\'s final response does not resolve the issue — or if eight weeks have passed since you completed the landlord\'s complaints procedure — you can escalate to the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is a free, independent service that investigates complaints about social landlords in England. It does not investigate private landlords; for those, the route is through the courts or, in some cases, a letting agent redress scheme.

The Ombudsman will look at whether the landlord handled your complaint fairly, kept you informed, and acted in line with its policies and obligations. It can order the landlord to complete the repair, apologise, pay compensation, and change its processes. Our guide to complaining to the Housing Ombudsman explains the full process.

In parallel, you can contact your local council\'s environmental health department. They can inspect the property for category-one or category-two hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If they find a serious hazard, they can issue an improvement notice or emergency remedial action, compelling the landlord to carry out the work. This route is particularly useful when the disrepair poses a risk to health — for example, severe damp and mould, unsafe electrics, or structural instability.

Step 4: Legal action and disrepair claims

If the Ombudsman and environmental health routes do not produce a result, or if you have suffered significant financial loss, illness, or inconvenience, you may consider legal action. A housing disrepair claim is brought in the county court and can result in a court order requiring the landlord to carry out works, plus compensation for the harm caused.

Before issuing proceedings, you should follow the pre-action protocol for housing disrepair claims. This requires a formal letter of claim, giving the landlord a reasonable time to respond. Legal aid may be available in some cases, and some solicitors offer conditional fee agreements. However, litigation is not risk-free: it can be slow, stressful, and costly if you do not qualify for legal aid.

In most situations, the Ombudsman route is faster, free, and effective. We recommend exhausting that path before committing to court action. You can read more in our compensation guide.

Check your landlord\'s record

Before you escalate, it is worth checking whether your landlord has a history of similar complaints. Landlord Record indexes every published Housing Ombudsman determination, so you can see how often a landlord has been found at fault for repair delays, damp and mould, or other responsive-repairs issues.

Browse decisions in the responsive repairs category, or search for your landlord by name. If a landlord has repeated adverse findings, it can strengthen your case and help you set realistic expectations about how they may respond.

Our index currently holds 16,224 published determinations, including 2,499 with a finding of severe maladministration. Search the decisions or browse the league tables.

Sources

• Housing Ombudsman Service — Scheme, Complaint Handling Code, and remedies guidance
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 — sections 11–14 (repairing obligations)
• Housing Act 2004 — Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
• gov.uk — Council and housing association home repairs