Social tenants can go to the Housing Ombudsman or bring a civil disrepair claim. Private tenants only have the civil route. Here is how to choose, and why doing both is often the right answer.
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A social tenant with a disrepair problem faces a choice most private tenants do not: the Housing Ombudsman, a court disrepair claim, or both?
Here is what each route does, what it cannot do, and when one or both makes sense.
The Housing Ombudsman route
The Housing Ombudsman Service is a free, independent body investigating complaints against social landlords in England. Only social tenants can use it: council and housing association tenants.
How it works: first you go through the landlord's own complaints process, usually two stages. With a final decision in hand, or after 8 weeks of Stage 2 silence, you refer the complaint to the Ombudsman, which investigates and issues a determination.
What it can order: an apology, a policy change, a goodwill payment, or steps to put things right. Goodwill payments usually run from the hundreds to the low thousands of pounds. They rarely reflect the full weight of serious, long-running disrepair.
What it cannot do: order specific repairs on a set timescale, or award personal-injury compensation. Its findings carry moral and regulatory weight, but they do not bind like a court order.
How long it takes: investigations regularly run 12 months or more from referral. Complex, evidence-heavy cases run longer.
The civil disrepair claim route
A civil disrepair claim goes through the county court, usually under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, or the Defective Premises Act 1972, depending on the disrepair.
Who can use it: social and private tenants alike. For private tenants it is the main formal route.
How it works: the claim is prepared and sent to the landlord under the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims. The landlord gets 20 working days to respond and arrange a joint inspection. Most claims settle before court; the rest end in a county court judgment.
What it can order: specific repairs by a set date, with consequences for ignoring the order, plus compensation for loss of use, damaged belongings, distress and personal injury. Settled awards can run well past Ombudsman goodwill payments, above all where disrepair ran for years or harmed health.
How long it takes: most cases settle within 3 to 18 months of starting the protocol. Court proceedings, where needed, add time.
Cost: a civil claim can use a no-win, no-fee agreement. No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.
The key differences at a glance
| Housing Ombudsman | Civil disrepair claim | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can use it | Social tenants only | Social and private tenants |
| Cost | Free | Conditional Fee Agreement may be available |
| Can order repairs | No | Yes |
| Personal injury compensation | No | Yes |
| Typical compensation level | Hundreds to low thousands | Can be substantially higher |
| Typical timescale | 12 months or more | 3 to 18 months |
Can you do both at the same time?
Yes. No rule stops you running the Ombudsman complaint and a court claim side by side. For many social tenants, both together is the right approach.
The Ombudsman complaint keeps regulatory pressure on the landlord, and it builds a formal written record of how the complaint was handled. That record feeds the court claim.
The court claim is what gets repairs ordered and real compensation paid.
When Ombudsman findings help your civil claim
A maladministration finding is a statutory body's written ruling that the landlord failed you. In a court claim that is powerful. A landlord struggles to call your complaint unreasonable, or the disrepair minor, when a formal investigation already found against them.
You need not wait for the Ombudsman before starting a court claim. But if you already hold a finding, bring it.
When the Ombudsman route alone is enough
Not every dispute justifies a court claim. The Ombudsman alone may be enough where:
- The dispute is about service, policy or process rather than physical disrepair
- The financial harm is small and you are not chasing real compensation
- You have the time and the will to run the complaints process yourself
- You want an apology or a policy change more than money
But where your home has damp, mould, broken heating, structural trouble or other physical disrepair that harmed your health or belongings, and the landlord ignored reports, a court claim is almost always the stronger route, with or without the Ombudsman beside it.
Private tenants: one route
Renting privately? The Housing Ombudsman is not open to you. Your routes: a court disrepair claim, the council's environmental health team (which can serve an improvement notice), and the new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman once it is fully up and running.
The court claim is the route that gets repairs ordered and compensation paid.
Get an honest assessment
Not sure which route fits? Call Support for Tenants on 0800 030 4669. We will say which route, or mix, makes sense, including when we think the Ombudsman alone beats a claim. We are not a law firm; we work with solicitors who run housing disrepair cases no-win-no-fee.
No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.
Sources: Housing Ombudsman Service (housing-ombudsman.org.uk); Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims (justice.gov.uk); Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk).
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 29 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only, not a promise; every case is different.
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