Reporting a landlord to Environmental Health

What Environmental Health can do

Every council has a team, often called Environmental Health, Private Sector Housing or Housing Standards, that checks rented homes for hazards using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If it finds a serious (category 1) hazard, such as severe damp and mould or dangerous electrics, the council must take action. It can serve an improvement notice that makes the landlord do the work, and in an emergency it can do the work itself.

What it can’t do is get you compensation. It deals with the condition of the home, not with what you’ve lost while living with it.

From the Housing Act 2004, Part 1 and Citizens Advice.

Who it helps

Private tenants: this is who the service is mainly for. Tell your landlord first, then contact the council if it isn’t fixed.
Housing association tenants: it depends on the council. Of the 279 councils we cover, 37 say you can use their service, 41 send you to your housing association, and 201 don’t mention housing association homes.
Council tenants: Environmental Health is part of the council, so it can’t take formal action against the council as your landlord. What council tenants can do instead.

How to report a housing problem

Tell your landlord in writing. Say what’s wrong, where, and since when. 241 of the 279 councils we cover ask you to do this first, and many say to allow 14 days.
Keep evidence. Dated photos, copies of messages, and any reference numbers.
Contact your council. Find your council below for its form, phone and email, from its own website.

If you rent from the council or a housing association

Your route is your landlord’s repairs service, then its complaints process, then the Housing Ombudsman, which is independent and free. If you reported a repair and it still isn’t fixed, you could also make a disrepair claim: a solicitor asks for the work to be done and for compensation for the time you lived with it.

Free to check, and we don’t charge you. If a solicitor takes your claim on, they work on a no win, no fee basis and must explain their fee in writing before you agree to anything. See fees

Check if you can claim

Environmental Health by council

Contact details for 279 councils, each from the council’s own website and checked by us.

London

North of England

Midlands

South of England

Questions

Can I report my landlord to environmental health for damp and mould?

If you rent privately, yes: tell your landlord in writing first, and if it isn’t fixed, contact your council’s housing standards (Environmental Health) team. If you rent from the council, it can’t take action against itself, and many councils send housing association tenants to their landlord first. Use your landlord’s complaints process and then the Housing Ombudsman.

Does environmental health deal with housing association properties?

It depends on the council. Of the 279 councils we cover, 37 say housing association tenants can use their service, 41 send them to their landlord, and 201 don’t mention them on their pages.

Can environmental health take action against the council?

No. Environmental Health is part of the council, so it can’t take formal action against the council as a landlord. Council tenants should complain to the council and then the Housing Ombudsman.

Council tenants: what to do

Does it cost anything to report a landlord to environmental health?

No. Citizens Advice says you don’t have to pay for the council to inspect your home.

Does environmental health get you compensation?

No. Environmental Health can make a landlord do repairs, but it doesn’t award compensation. Council and housing association tenants can claim compensation through a disrepair claim.

Check if you can claim

Do I have to tell my landlord before contacting environmental health?

Usually, yes. 241 of the 279 councils we cover say to tell your landlord first, often in writing, and give them time to fix it, commonly 14 days.

What you can claim for

Largest landlords

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