Housing conditions

What you can expect from your landlord

Your landlord should ensure that your home is safe and free from defects by:-

• Keeping all gas and electrical equipment maintained and in good working order by a properly qualified person (e.g. GAS SAFE registered gas installer)
• Actioning repairs and maintenance within a reasonable period of time

Common defects include missing fire precautions, poor insulation, inadequate heating, damp and mould and dangerous stairs.

Repairs should be reported to the landlord in writing, even the minor ones.Further information is available on our Tenant repairs and responsibilities page.

What you can expect from us

If your landlord doesn't address the problem we will investigate the situation.

In most cases a visit is necessary, you and your landlord/agent will be notified in writing of the inspection date and invited to attend. We understand occasionally a tenant may be nervous of local authority involvement therefore full support is given throughout the process. You are not required to attend any inspection and concerns can be discussed before the landlord is notified.

We may only visit without prior notice to the landlord in exceptional cases. Until we notify a landlord of our intent to make a visit we are legally unable to take any action. The main exception would be if you live in a bed-sit or shared house.

The Inspection

During the visit we will assess your home to identify any hazards that may cause health risks (known as 'category 1 hazards). If any category 1 hazards are found then we are required by law to ask your landlord to take action. In most cases this means detailing in writing the required works and allowing a period of time for completion of works. If your landlord doesn't complete the works then he or she could be prosecuted and we may be required to action repairs ourselves.

The Outcome

Occasionally, the only way to remove a hazard is to close the property with a 'prohibition order'. You will, of course, be kept fully informed if this is likely to happen and we will support you to find alternative accommodation if necessary. The most common notice is an 'Improvement Notice' to remedy repairs and hazards.

We will normally complete a report within 2 weeks of the visit detailing the hazards and how they can be removed. We will send you a copy of that report.

If we cannot find any hazards to be removed then we will inform both you and the landlord in writing that we do not intend to take further action.

Protection from Eviction

Most tenancies give tenants protection from eviction in cases where the Council have served an improvement notice.

Tenancies which started on or after 1 October 2015 offer tenants protection from eviction in cases where the Council have served an improvement notice. For a period of six months after the date which the improvement notice was served your landlord will not be permitted to serve you with a notice to quit (sometimes called a notice seeking possession or section 21 notice). If you believe that you need this protection you will need to:

• Inform your landlord in writing. Detailing the repair issue or hazard. This can be a letter or an email. Even if you contact the landlord by phone or text, follow it up with a letter or email.
• You will need to give the landlord 14 days to respond to you.
• If there is no adequate response you will need to contact the Council for us to investigate.

We have included sample letters in ourtemplate section to help you do this.

Harassment and Illegal Eviction

Some tenants are worried that it they ask their landlord to deal with a problem they may be asked to leave. Most landlords will not respond this way as they prefer to know about the problem. However, if your landlord does threaten to end your tenancy, or takes any other negative action as a result of you raising the problem then you should contact us immediately. Aggressive or violent behaviour must be reported to the Police via the emergency number 999. Concerns can be reported online using theonline 101 reporting service (opens new window) or by calling 101 for Norfolk Police assistance.

Timescales

It may take time for your landlord to arrange a repair due to availability of a local competent plumber or electrician. Landlords are allowed reasonable time to take action, a visit to inspect the reported repair should take place within 7 days. Emergency response is permitted without notification to the tenant but only for extreme circumstances. Ask your landlord to keep you informed regarding contractor visits and delays.

Access

Try to be flexible when allowing access for estimates and quotes. Provide dates which are not convenient and suggest alternatives. Your tenancy agreement should explain about your duty to allow access for repairs. Emergency repairs can be actioned within 24 hours and the tenants permission is not required.