Housing Disrepair Portsmouth
Claims Against Portsmouth Homes and Housing Associations
If you rent from Portsmouth City Council through Portsmouth Homes, or from a housing association anywhere in the city, your landlord must keep your home safe, dry and in repair. When damp, mould, leaks or broken heating are reported and nothing changes, or the problem is written off as condensation from the way you live, you can act.
We act for social housing tenants across the city. Our guide to claims brought by council tenants covers the route in full.
Portsmouth City Council Repairs and Your Right to a Safe Home
Portsmouth City Council is the largest social landlord in the city. Its landlord service, Portsmouth Homes, manages around 17,500 homes, roughly 15,500 of them socially rented, across Portsea Island and off island estates including Leigh Park. Thousands more homes in and around the city are let by housing associations, and those tenants hold the same rights.
The council's own annual report to tenants records more than forty thousand repairs in a year with around 85 per cent fixed first time. Read the other way, that leaves thousands of jobs needing a second visit or a third. If yours is one of them, and damp, a leak or a heating fault has dragged on for weeks after you reported it, the position is no longer a service problem. It is a breach of a statutory duty.
Socially rented homes managed by Portsmouth Homes
Working days to investigate significant damp and mould
To make an emergency hazard safe
Why Damp and Leaks Are So Common in Portsmouth Social Housing
An island city with salt air, high density and a post war rebuild produces a disrepair profile of its own.
Portsmouth is the most densely populated city in the country outside London, built on an island exposed to salt air, coastal wind and driving rain from the Solent. Salt accelerates the corrosion of metal fixings, flashings and reinforcement inside concrete, which is why render and panel defects appear here sooner than inland.
Much of the council stock came from the post war rebuild after heavy bomb damage, including tower blocks and deck access estates in Portsea, Landport and Somerstown, alongside older terraces converted into flats. Flat roofs, ageing windows and tired gutters let water in, and cold walls in poorly insulated blocks grow mould within a single winter.
The standard response is a patch repair or a mould wash followed by advice to ventilate more. Penetrating damp, failed ventilation and leaking pipework are building defects, not household habits, and telling the two apart is what decides a claim. Our explanation of how condensation differs from structural damp sets out what a surveyor actually looks for.
Mould forming where a cold external wall meets the ceiling, a structural pattern rather than a household one
Your Legal Rights as a Portsmouth Social Housing Tenant
Every social landlord in Portsmouth, the council and housing associations alike, is bound by the same core duties. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires the landlord to keep the structure and exterior in repair and the installations for water, gas, electricity, heating and sanitation in working order. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 added Section 9A, which requires the home to be fit to live in throughout the tenancy. Serious mould, persistent leaks, no heating and infestations can each breach that duty, and our comparison of the two statutory routes explains which applies to which defect.
Awaab's Law, under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, now gives social tenants in England fixed deadlines rather than a vague standard of reasonableness. For damp, mould and emergency hazards your landlord must:
- Investigate a significant damp and mould hazard within 10 working days of being told
- Give you a written summary of the findings within 3 working days of that investigation
- Make the home safe within 5 working days of the investigation where a significant hazard is found
- Investigate and make safe any emergency hazard within 24 hours
- Offer suitable alternative accommodation where it cannot make the home safe in time
Those deadlines are being phased in by hazard type, and our breakdown of which hazards come into scope and when sets out the sequence. A missed deadline is a breach measured in dates rather than opinion, which makes it one of the easiest things to establish.
Where your landlord misses those deadlines or ignores its repairing duties, you can claim compensation for the inconvenience, the damaged belongings and any harm to health, and have the court order the works done.
Typical Portsmouth Housing Disrepair Claims
Illustrative examples of the case types we handle in the city. Details are composite and do not describe a single identified client. Outcomes we have secured appear in our record of settled claims.
A family reports spreading mould around a bedroom window and is told repeatedly to open the windows. An independent survey finds cold bridging at the reveal and a failed extractor fan. The claim seeks a proper investigation under the statutory deadlines, full remedial works and damages running from the first report.
Rain comes through a bedroom ceiling every winter and the stain is redecorated rather than traced. Flat roofs on coastal stock fail early, and painting over the evidence is not a repair. The claim covers the roof works, replastering, redecoration and the carpets, bedding and furniture lost along the way.
An ageing boiler breaks down again and again and the household is told parts are awaited. Repeated short lived repairs do not discharge the duty to keep heating in working order. A letter of claim puts it on a legal timetable, with damages for the cold months and the electricity spent on temporary heaters.
Mice enter through gaps around pipework and damaged brickwork in communal areas. Treating one flat achieves nothing while the entry points stay open. The claim forces proofing works across the block and covers the spoiled food, damaged belongings and disruption.
Why Portsmouth Tenants Choose Housing Repair Solutions
The funding arrangement is set out on our page about claims that cost you nothing to bring.
Social Housing Only
We act for council and housing association tenants exclusively, so every case is built around social landlord duties, Awaab's Law and the Housing Ombudsman framework.
No Win No Fee
Nothing to pay upfront. If the claim succeeds, the fee comes from the compensation and is capped and agreed in writing before you sign.
Independent Evidence
An independent surveyor inspects the property, so the cause of the damp is established on evidence rather than decided by the landlord's own contractor.
Disrepair We Claim For in Portsmouth
Damp and Black Mould
Cold walls, failed insulation, dead extractor fans and penetrating damp, almost always logged first as condensation.
Leaks and Pipework
Water from the flat above, burst pipes and failing plumbing in blocks, causing rot, ruined ceilings and damaged belongings.
Heating and Hot Water
Households left cold through damp coastal winters while repairs are deferred or parts are said to be on order.
Electrics and Wiring
Exposed wiring, failing consumer units and repeated outages. Salt air accelerates corrosion in external and communal installations.
Rodents and Infestations
Mice and rats entering through gaps and structural defects the landlord has not sealed, particularly in converted terraces.
Roofs, Windows and Structure
Failing flat roofs, rotten frames and cracked render letting wind driven rain straight into the fabric of the building.
Roof and rainwater defects sit behind a large share of coastal damp cases, and our page on roof, window and drainage disrepair covers what the landlord has to put right.
How a Portsmouth Housing Disrepair Claim Works
Four stages, nothing to pay at any point unless the claim succeeds. For a rough idea of value first, use our tool for estimating a disrepair award.
Free Case Review
Tell us what is wrong, when you reported it and how Portsmouth Homes or your housing association responded. We review it and explain your options.
Independent Survey
An independent surveyor inspects the property at no upfront cost and records the defects, their cause and the works required.
Letter of Claim
A formal letter of claim goes to your landlord under the Pre Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims, starting a 20 working day response deadline.
Repairs and Compensation
We press for the works to be completed properly and negotiate the damages owed for the period you lived with the disrepair.
Once a letter of claim is served, the case leaves the general repairs queue and moves onto a formal legal timetable.
The Complaints Route and the Legal Route
The Internal Complaints Route
- • Jobs closed or marked complete before the work has actually been done.
- • Stage one replies due within 10 working days and stage two within 20, under the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, often with extensions applied.
- • Standard responses attributing the problem to condensation or how the home is used.
- • A further wait for the Ombudsman if you remain dissatisfied.
- • Modest goodwill payments and repairs that rarely address the cause.
Taking Legal Action
- • The case goes to the landlord's legal or disrepair team rather than the repairs line.
- • The Pre Action Protocol sets formal response and disclosure deadlines.
- • An independent surveyor establishes the real cause of the defect.
- • The costs risk gives the landlord a concrete reason to act quickly.
- • Damages cover distress, damaged belongings and health effects.
Complaining is still worth doing because it creates a dated record. Choosing between the two is covered in our comparison of the Ombudsman and a legal claim. You do not have to wait for a complaint to conclude before taking advice.
The Evidence That Decides a Portsmouth Claim
What to Gather, and We Help With All of It
- Dated photographs and video showing how the mould, leak or defect has spread over weeks and months, not a single image.
- Every repair reference number, plus portal or app screenshots, emails, texts and letters from Portsmouth Homes or your association.
- Any job marked complete when nobody attended, screenshotted immediately, which is one of the most damaging records a landlord can face.
- GP records linking breathing problems, skin conditions or disturbed sleep to the conditions at home.
What Most People Get Wrong
Tenants think they have to prove the cause of the damp. They do not. That is the surveyor's job. What has to be proved is notice, meaning the landlord knew, and a simple dated diary of reports and missed appointments does that better than anything else.
Mould also establishes itself behind furniture and inside wall voids before it is visible, so an inspection that finds nothing is not proof that nothing is there. Our guide to spotting mould in its early stages covers the signs.
Housing Disrepair Portsmouth, Common Questions
Can I claim against Portsmouth City Council for damp and mould
Yes. Portsmouth City Council, through Portsmouth Homes, is a social landlord bound by Awaab's Law, Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and Section 9A of the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. If you reported damp or mould and it was not properly investigated and resolved, you are likely to have a claim for both the repairs and compensation.
Can you help if I rent from a housing association in Portsmouth
Yes. Housing association tenants hold the same core repair rights as council tenants, and Awaab's Law applies to registered providers of social housing in England. The complaints procedure differs between landlords but the legal route is identical. We act for council and housing association tenants only.
What should I do first if my repair is being ignored
Put it in writing rather than phoning, describe the location precisely, and say explicitly that the problem is recurring rather than new. Keep the reference number. If nothing moves, raise a formal complaint rather than another repairs report, because a complaint forces a dated reviewable response. Our guide to making a complaint that cannot be brushed off covers the wording.
Can I be rehoused while repairs are carried out
Where the works make the home genuinely uninhabitable, or where a hazard cannot be made safe within the statutory deadline, your landlord should offer suitable alternative accommodation and meet the reasonable costs. Where it fails to, those costs form part of the claim. We do not take standalone rehousing cases, but the issue is dealt with inside a disrepair claim.
Should I stop paying rent until the repairs are done
No. Withholding rent does not force a repair, it puts you in arrears and gives the landlord a possession ground. There is a narrow formal set off procedure, but it carries strict requirements and should never be attempted without advice. A claim reaches the same outcome without the risk, and arrears do not reduce your landlord's repairing duty.
My landlord says the mould is condensation caused by us
That is the most common response and it is frequently wrong. Mould is often caused or worsened by cold walls, missing insulation, a failed extractor fan or water entering through the structure. An independent survey establishes the real cause, and where it is a building defect the responsibility sits squarely with the landlord.
What if I have already moved out of the property
A claim for the period you lived with the disrepair survives the end of a tenancy, subject to the limitation period. That is generally six years for the disrepair itself and three years for any personal injury element. Former tenants often assume the right disappears when they hand the keys back, and it does not.
Will a claim affect my tenancy
Bringing a disrepair claim is not a ground for possession. A council or housing association tenant can only be evicted through the courts on specific statutory grounds, and complaining about the condition of your home is not one of them. Keeping your rent up to date removes the most common ground entirely.
Beyond Portsmouth
We act for social housing tenants across England and Wales. If your landlord is a national provider or you are outside the city, start from the page that covers you.
We do not take private rented sector, leaseholder or shared ownership claims.
Portsmouth Housing Disrepair Compensation Explained
Disrepair affects social housing tenants in every part of Portsmouth, from the tower blocks of Portsea and Somerstown to family homes in Copnor, Paulsgrove, Cosham and Leigh Park. Where a landlord knows about a problem and fails to put it right within a reasonable time, a claim both compels the repair and recovers damages. The team who would handle yours is introduced on our page about the firm.
Damp and Mould Claims in the City
Damp and mould sit behind most Portsmouth claims we see. Coastal weather, cold solid walls and failed ventilation create the conditions, and a mould wash conceals the problem for a few weeks at most. The statutory deadlines now apply to exactly this hazard, which means a landlord that leaves a reported mould problem uninvestigated is in breach on the dates alone, regardless of any argument about cause.
Who Your Landlord Is and Why It Matters
Several large providers hold stock in and around the city alongside the council, among them VIVID, Abri, Sovereign Network Group and Southern Housing. Each is a registered provider bound by the same statutory duties, so the legal route does not change. What changes is the complaints procedure you have to exhaust first and the service standards the landlord has published for itself. Our guide to claims against registered providers explains the differences in practice.
The Council Is Changing, Your Rights Are Not
Local government in Hampshire is being reorganised and Portsmouth City Council will in time form part of a larger unitary authority. Tenancies and statutory duties transfer with the stock, exactly as they do on any stock transfer, so the repairing covenant does not lapse and your reports do not reset. There is no reason to hold off on a claim while a reorganisation works through, and waiting only risks the earliest part of the period falling outside the limitation window.
Keep Paying the Rent
Pay your rent in full while a claim runs. Withholding puts you in arrears, hands the landlord a possession ground and achieves nothing, because compensation is assessed separately in any event. Council tax is a separate charge from rent and remains payable throughout, and if you need to check how that works our page on paying your council tax sets it out.
What You Actually Recover
A successful claim has two halves and tenants consistently underestimate the first. The works are enforced, usually under a schedule with dates attached, so the defect is resolved rather than concealed again. Damages then cover the period you lived with it, calculated largely as a proportion of the rent paid, plus belongings ruined by damp or water, plus any injury element. Where the effect has been on mental health rather than physical health, that is recoverable too, as our guide to distress caused by living in disrepair explains.
Starting Your Claim
Tell us what is wrong, when you first reported it and how your landlord responded. We check whether there is a claim and explain the position in plain terms, including when there is not one. If it goes ahead, we arrange the independent survey and serve the letter of claim, and you pay nothing at any stage unless the claim succeeds. Contact our team and we will come back to you within 24 hours.
Start Your Portsmouth Claim
Free case review. Force the repairs and claim compensation.
Start Free Assessment → 📞 Call 07460 754041Submit Your Enquiry
Use this quick form to send your details straight to our claims team.
Claim Pages
Ready to Get the Repairs Done
A free case review, no obligation, and an honest answer about whether your claim is worth running.
What Could Your Claim Be Worth
Damages depend on how long the disrepair has run, the rent paid during it, the belongings damaged and the effect on your household. We give you a realistic range once we have seen the evidence, not before.
Use the compensation calculator