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Manchester City Council complaints, compensation and disrepair claims

Your options if Manchester City Council hasn’t fixed a repair: claiming compensation, complaining, and what the Housing Ombudsman has found.

By Ben Miller, housing disrepair specialistChecked 5 October 2026 · How we checkRepairs and phone numbers: Manchester City Council repairs

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LandlordManchester City Council

Has Manchester City Council been told about the repair?

Yes, reported and still not fixedCheck if you can claim No, reporting it for the first timeGet Manchester’s repair contacts

Free to check · About 2 minutes

You can complain to Manchester City Council, then the Housing Ombudsman, yourself for free.

Complaint or claim?

Your options if Manchester City Council hasn’t fixed it

Claim compensation

Make a disrepair claim

A law firm on our panel takes it up with Manchester for you. It asks for the repairs to be done and claims compensation, usually worked out as a share of the rent you paid while the problem wasn’t fixed.

Start your claim 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

Complain

Complain to the council

This can get the council to look at the repair again. If you’re still unhappy, the Housing Ombudsman can order the council to put things right. In its recent decisions about Manchester, it ordered between £950 and £2,621 in compensation.

How to complain

You can do both: a complaint can carry on while a law firm makes your claim.

Compensation

How disrepair compensation is worked out

Courts usually award a share of the rent you paid while the problem wasn’t fixed. Three things decide how much. Manchester’s own target for a routine repair is 28 days, so a repair left longer than that is already late by its own standard.

  1. 01

    How long

    From when your landlord knew about it to when it was fixed, or today.

  2. 02

    How much of your home

    One room, or the whole home.

  3. 03

    How badly

    How much it affected your daily life and your belongings.

Making a claim

Claiming against Manchester City Council

  1. 01You tell us what’s wrong and when you reported it. About 2 minutes.
  2. 02We introduce you to a law firm on our panel, with your permission.
  3. 03They write to Manchester City Council asking for the repairs and compensation. Under the court rules for housing conditions claims, the council should reply within 20 working days.
  4. 04If your claim succeeds, the work is done and compensation is paid to you.

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

How to complain

Complaining to Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council has to follow the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

  1. Stage 1

    Complain to the council

    Acknowledged within 5 working days, with a reply within 10 working days of that.

  2. Stage 2

    Ask for a review

    Acknowledged within 5 working days, with a reply within 20 working days of that.

  3. Then

    Housing Ombudsman

    Independent. It can order the council to put things right.

From mcchousingservices.co.uk, checked 5 October 2026.

Complained and still waiting? You can start a claim while your complaint is going on.

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Manchester’s record

What the regulator and Ombudsman found

Regulator gradeC2

Jan 2026: After an inspection, the regulator found some weaknesses across all four consumer standards, including a repairs service that draws a high share of complaints and below-target satisfaction, and gaps in the information it holds about tenants.

Happy with complaints32%

of Manchester tenants were satisfied with how complaints were handled in 2024/25.

Ombudsman73%

of the Ombudsman’s findings about Manchester in 2024/25 were maladministration.

Sources: Regulator of Social Housing judgement, 14 January 2026; Manchester tenant satisfaction measures 2024/25; Housing Ombudsman landlord performance data 2024/25.

Complaints against Manchester

What the Housing Ombudsman decided

Recent cases where the Housing Ombudsman found Manchester City Council at fault over repairs, and the compensation it ordered. Every case is different.

  • How it handled reports of damp and mould. Read the decisionMaladministration
    £950 ordered
  • How it handled reports relating to roof repairs and damp and mould in the property. Read the decisionSevere maladministration
    £2,621.25 ordered

Source: Housing Ombudsman decisions.

Has Manchester let you down too? You could claim compensation.

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Questions

Manchester City Council complaints and claims: questions

How do I complain to Manchester City Council about repairs?

Online: mcchousingservices.co.uk. By phone: 0300 012 3123. Say what the problem is, when you reported it, and what you want done.

How long does Manchester City Council have to reply to a complaint?

Stage 1: acknowledged within 5 working days, with a reply within 10 working days of that. Stage 2: acknowledged within 5 working days, with a reply within 20 working days of that.

Can I claim compensation from Manchester City Council for damp and mould?

You could, if you reported it and the council didn’t fix it in a reasonable time. A law firm on our panel can take it up with Manchester for you.

Start your claim
Has the Housing Ombudsman found Manchester City Council at fault?

In 2024/25 the Ombudsman found maladministration in 73% of its findings about Manchester. Recent decisions about its repairs are listed above, with the compensation ordered.

Why use Report Repair?

A law firm on our panel takes your claim up with Manchester City Council: it asks for the repairs to be done and claims compensation for you, so you don’t have to deal with the council on your own. It’s free to check, and if your claim succeeds the law firm’s fee comes out of your compensation.

See fees

Not Manchester?

Other landlords in the North of England

All landlords in the North of England

Still waiting for Manchester City Council to fix it?

About 2 minutes. No documents. Free to check.

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