Council warns social tenants not to use lawyers to chase repairs

A Labour council is contacting its social housing tenants to report their repair problems to their landlord and not through lawyers.

York council says the plea is being made because legal firms are allegedly targeting social housing tenants in the city – with one example leaving the renter almost £8,000 out of pocket.

‘No win, no fee’ legal firms press tenants to make claims against the council for failing to repair their home or not doing it well enough. What the council calls “unsolicited and unaccredited ‘surveyors’ have been reported going door to door, cajoling tenants to make compensation claims against their landlord.”

The tenants’ information is then allegedly sold on to legal firms for their own gain, with some suggesting that they work for the council, when they do not.

A ‘no win, no fee’ case by a tenant against the council was heard in York County Court recently, but was dismissed by the District Judge who ordered the unsuccessful tenant to pay costs of £7,964.75.

This follows another unsuccessful ‘no win, no fee’ case against the council in 2023 which left that tenant being ordered by a judge to pay costs of £10,409.72.

Read the full article at Letting Agent Today