The specialist integrated credit hire and legal services provider, Anexo Group (ANX ), has formed a new team within its legal services division to deal with housing disrepair claims.
According to the Government’s English Housing Survey for 2019 to 2020, there were 4.4 million privately rented homes and 4 million socially rented homes in England. Data shows that there has been a trend away from owner occupation towards private or social rental.
Anexo has acknowledged that this trend is likely to continue, given the ongoing economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Anexo has unveiled the formation of a specialist Housing Disrepair (“HDR”) team within its legal services division, Bond Turner.
The Group explained that its HDR team is currently engaged in almost 1,600 cases with this figure expected to rise substantially in 2022, and that data shows that 12% of social housing dwellings and 23% of private rented dwellings fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard.
This means 480,000 of social housing dwellings and 1.01 million private rented dwellings fail to meet the DHS, which is a technical standard for public housing defined by the Government.
In addition, 5% (200,000) of social housing dwellings and 13% (572,000) of private rented dwellings suffer from a Category 1 Hazard, defined as damp and mould growth, Anexo noted.
Anexo said its specialist HDR team within Bond Turner has ‘considerable experience’ in covering claims under The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act, which came into force in 2019 to ensure that rented houses and flats are fit for human habitation. In practice, the Act gives more power to tenants to take action against negligent or irresponsible landlords.
Anexo explained that claims can involve both redress and compensation, where appropriate. It added that claimants are frequently identified through Bond Turner’s internal database.
The HDR team, which is overseen by Samantha Moss, Managing Director of Bond Turner, also uses appropriate social media marketing to identify possible claimants, Anexo noted.
Commenting on the current housing trends, Alan Sellers, Executive Chairman of Anexo, said:
“It has been apparent for some time that large numbers of tenants, including many of our customers, are suffering from poor quality housing. The new HDR team will be able to help claimants by ensuring that their landlords, whether they be local authorities, housing associations or private landlords, are obliged to maintain their homes to a decent standard.”
He said, “This includes a reasonable state of repair, the provision of reasonably modern facilities, and reasonable thermal comfort, including the absence of damp and mould.”
He added that Anexo believes that by addressing the problem of substandard housing, it is “performing a socially useful function and helping to raise standards across the board.”
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