Adult social care workers: referring clients with housing disrepair problems

Adult social care workers, including social workers, care managers, and support workers employed by or contracted to local authorities, regularly visit people in their own homes. If the people you work with live in privately rented housing that is in poor condition, knowing how to refer them for support can make a real difference to their wellbeing and safety.

Why housing conditions matter in adult social care

Adults with care and support needs are particularly vulnerable to the effects of poor housing. Cold, damp, or unsafe conditions can:

• Worsen physical health conditions and increase the risk of hospitalisation
• Undermine the goals of a care plan
• Make it impossible to deliver care safely in the home
• Increase the risk of falls, infections, or other preventable harms
• Have a serious impact on mental health and wellbeing

Where poor housing conditions are caused by a landlord's failure to carry out repairs, the client has legal rights, including the right to claim compensation. Your role in identifying the problem and linking the client to support can change their situation.

What counts as housing disrepair?

Housing disrepair means a landlord has failed to keep the property in good repair as required by law. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords of privately rented homes to maintain the structure, exterior, heating, hot water, and drainage. If these have failed and the landlord has been told but has not acted, the tenant may have a legal claim.

Signs of disrepair you might notice during a home visit:

• Black mould on walls, ceilings, or around windows
• Damp patches or visible water damage
• No working heating, or heating that is unreliable
• Leaks from ceilings, walls, or pipework
• Broken windows, draughts, or damaged flooring
• Structural problems such as subsidence, unsafe stairs, or crumbling walls
• Pest infestations

How to refer a client

Signpost to Support for Tenants. If the client lives in a privately rented home and the landlord has failed to carry out repairs, Support for Tenants can assess the case and handle the claim on a no-win, no-fee basis. The number is 0800 030 4669. You can help the client make the call, or make a note of the number in their care plan.

Report to environmental health. If there is an urgent safety hazard, no heating in winter, pest infestation, structural danger, the client or a worker acting with their consent can report to the council's environmental health or housing standards team. They can inspect and require the landlord to act.

Document what you see. Record housing conditions in your case notes if they are relevant to the client's health, safety, or care needs. This documentation can support a formal complaint or legal claim.

Involve the care manager or social work team. Where appropriate, raise the housing issue within the care planning process. A coordinated approach, involving housing, health, and social care, is usually more effective than isolated referrals.

Disabled Facilities Grant. If adaptations to the property are needed to support the client's care needs, refer them (or support them to apply) for a Disabled Facilities Grant through the local authority. This is separate from a disrepair claim.

Mental capacity and consent

Always act within the framework of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. If a client has capacity to make decisions about their housing situation, they should make those decisions themselves. Provide information clearly and in a format they can understand.

If a client lacks capacity and you are involved in best interests decisions, consider whether addressing housing disrepair is in their best interests and involve the appropriate decision-makers.

Where a client has capacity and is hesitant about taking action against their landlord, you can reassure them that no-win, no-fee means there is no financial risk to them, and that the process is handled by solicitors on their behalf.

What Support for Tenants can do

Support for Tenants handles housing disrepair claims for people in privately rented homes. No-win, no-fee, there is no financial risk to the client.

Call: 0800 030 4669

Sources

• Care Act 2014 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Mental Capacity Act 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)

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