Housing disrepair for local authority landlords—a practical guide


Produced in partnership with Alexander Bastin of Gatehouse Chambers and Elizabeth England
Practice notes

Housing disrepair for local authority landlords—a practical guide


Produced in partnership with Alexander Bastin of Gatehouse Chambers and Elizabeth England

Practice notes
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This Practice Note discusses disrepair Claims in relation to social housing, setting out the legal basis for a claim and other the relevant factors that need to be considered.

The basis for a disrepair claim

It is important to understand the basis upon which a claim can be brought and some basic procedural matters. Disrepair claims arise, principally, out of contract and statute law, the basis of each is outlined below.

If there is a tenancy agreement, the claim is likely to be in breach of contract. A copy of the tenancy agreement must be obtained to check the Landlord’s express repairing obligations. There are also some standard implied terms developed by the courts that:

  1. •

    if a landlord carries out repairs, they must be done with reasonable skill and care and using proper materials

  2. •

    a landlord must not derogate from its grant (ie not let retained premises fall into such a condition as to have a deleterious effect on the demised premises)

There are three principle

Alexander Bastin
Alexander Bastin

Barrister, Gatehouse Chambers

A property specialist (including L & T aspects of housing) with great experience across most areas of property-related law. Appears in the High Court, the County Court and the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). Has experience of both sides of the legal profession having once been an employed barrister at Mayer Brown where he specialised principally in commercial property litigation.

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Elizabeth England
Elizabeth England

Employed as a housing case worker in 2015 at award winning legal aid practice Turpin & Miller Solicitors in Oxford, trained and later became head of the housing team. After a series of high-profile cases, she moved to north-west specialist housing firm Pearson & Johnson Solicitors advising and representing local authorities and registered social landlords. Whilst there she obtained Higher Rights and conducted advocacy on behalf of the firm in the range of housing law issues. In 2014 was invited to join London chambers 42 Bedford Row to work with a specialist housing law team. Now represents a range of clients from inner-London borough councils to private clients in the full spectrum of housing law. Elizabeth provides regular training to the London Borough Legal Association. Recent cases include

    Obtaining and enforcing possession orders for landlords
    Defending possession claims for tenants
    Dealing with Human Rights defences
    Dealing with Equality Act defences
    Dealing with unlawful occupiers and squatters
    Unlwaful eviction and harassment
    Disrepair, nuisance and statutory nuisance
    Homelessness reviews and appeals in County Court
    Injunctions to prevent anti-social behaviour and other orders available under he ASB Crime and Policing Act 2014 including committal applications
    Service charge claims
    Leasehold management issues

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Local authority definition
What does Local authority mean?

The County, Unitary or london borough Council for a defined area.

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