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If you are worried about the condition of your rented home, our new leaflet Housing Standards: Guidance for dealing with disrepair, safety and poor conditions in your rented home, can provide you with more information and advice about what you can do and the services that we are able to offer.
Have you contacted your landlord?
In the first instance it is always worth discussing your concerns with your landlord or letting agent to give them the opportunity to carry out the necessary repairs or improvements.
If you are unable to discuss your concerns with your landlord 'face to face' you could also write to them outlining the problems you are experiencing. You could use this use this ample letter.
Housing association tenants
If you are a tenant of a housing association, you should always contact them first to try and resolve any disrepair or safety concerns that you may have. The main housing associations in Dorset are listed below:
Report an issue with your rented house
We will only visit a tenants home if they want us to and after carefully considering all the issues. We normally have to notify your landlord that we intend to carry out an inspection of your home. If at this visit we find the house poses a risk to your health and safety we will normally work with the landlord to achieve the necessary improvements. It’s important to remember that we have to allow a reasonable period of time for these works to be carried out.
If you are a tenant of a housing association, we will normally discuss your concerns with your landlord directly on your behalf, before deciding on the most appropriate course of action.
Although we may try and ensure works are carried out informally, in some situations we may need to use our enforcement powers to ensure the work is carried out within a reasonable period of time. Our housing enforcement policy explains what landlords and tenants can expect from us and how we will use our powers in a fair and consistent way.
All homes should provide a safe and healthy environment for any potential occupier or visitor. The Housing Act 2004 introduced a risk assessment process called the Housing Health and Safety Rating system that we use to identify housing related hazards. In addition Houses in Multiple Occupation should achieve additional requirements concerning fire safety and amenity provision.