Evidence checklist
What to photograph, keep and write down. Useful whoever you deal with: your landlord, the Housing Ombudsman, a solicitor, or us.
Disrepair cases are won and lost on evidence. The good news is that most of it costs nothing to collect, and you can start today.
Photographs
- Every affected room, wide shot and close up
- Something for scale in the frame, such as a coin or a ruler
- Good light where you can, and the flash on where you cannot
- New photographs each month, so the progression is visible
- Damaged belongings: furniture, clothing, bedding, carpets
Video
Short clips are useful for anything a still photo cannot show: a dripping leak, water running down a wall, damp spreading, an extractor fan that does not work, noise from a fault.
Correspondence
- Every email and letter you have sent your landlord
- Every reply, including automated acknowledgements
- Text messages and messages sent through a tenant portal
- Notes of phone calls: date, time, who you spoke to, what was said
- Repair reference or job numbers
Repair records
- Appointment letters and text confirmations
- Notes left by contractors
- Whether anyone attended, and whether they turned up at all
- Any survey, inspection or environmental health report
- Any work that was done, and whether the problem came back
Dates
Keep a simple diary. When you first noticed the problem, when you reported it, every appointment, every failed visit, every time it got worse. A dated list in a notebook or a phone note is enough.
Health and financial impact
- GP or hospital records where the condition of the home has affected health
- Prescriptions and appointment letters
- Receipts for items you have replaced
- Extra heating or dehumidifier costs
- Notes on rooms you cannot use, or sleeping arrangements you have had to change
Related articles
Housing disrepair explained
What the law requires of your landlord, and when a problem becomes a claim.
Read more →Can I claim myself?
How to raise a disrepair complaint yourself, free of charge.
Read more →Damp and mould guide
Telling the types apart, the health effects, and what your landlord should do.
Read more →Housing disrepair claims
What counts as disrepair, what a claim can achieve, and how the process works.
Read more →Your rights as a tenant
Repairs, access, complaints and protection from retaliation.
Read more →Using the Housing Ombudsman
A free, independent service for complaints about social landlords.
Read more →Tell us what is wrong with your home
We will explain your options honestly, including the ones that do not involve us. Making an enquiry costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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