Evidence for a housing disrepair claim

Why evidence matters in a disrepair enquiry

Evidence is simply the record that lets someone who has never been inside your home understand what has been happening in it. Without it, an enquiry rests on your description alone. With it, a reviewer — and later, if your enquiry is suitable and you agree to an introduction, an independent solicitor — can see the problem for themselves.

The three things evidence needs to show

• That the disrepair existed: what the problem is, where it is, how bad it is, and that it is not a one-off moment captured on a bad day.
• That your landlord knew about it: when you told them, how you told them, and what they said or did afterwards. This is often called giving notice.
• The effect on you: which rooms you have lost the use of, what has been damaged, disturbed sleep, cold, smell, worry, or any health effects you have raised with a doctor.

Most people are strongest on the first strand and weakest on the second. Photographs pile up naturally; a record of every report, call and missed appointment does not, unless you deliberately keep one.

What strong evidence looks like — and what weak evidence looks like

The difference is rarely about equipment. A phone photograph can be excellent evidence or almost useless, and the deciding factors are date, context and repetition.

Strong

• A dated wide shot of the whole bedroom wall showing the window, the corner and the skirting, followed by a close-up of the black mould around the frame with a ruler or a mug in shot for scale.
• The same wall photographed in November, January and March, so the growth is visibly spreading rather than static.
• An email to the letting agent dated 14 November describing the mould, plus the automated reply quoting job reference 40871.
• A short video panning slowly from the doorway across the ceiling to the drip, with you saying the date aloud at the start.
• A note reading: 3 December, 10:15am, called the repairs line, spoke to a woman named Sam, told an appointment would be booked within ten working days.

Weak

• A single blurry close-up of a dark patch, with no date, no idea which room it is in and nothing to give a sense of size.
• Twenty photographs all taken on the same afternoon, showing nothing about how long the problem has lasted.
• A memory that you “rang them loads of times last winter” with no dates, names or reference numbers.
• A screenshot cropped so tightly that the date, the sender and the thread are all cut off.
• Photographs that have been edited, brightened heavily or re-saved through several apps so the original file is gone.

Photographs and video: how to capture disrepair well

Aim to let a stranger work out, from the images alone, what the problem is, where in the property it sits, how large it is and how long it has been there.

A simple routine for each affected area

• Check your phone camera is set to record the date, and do not turn the timestamp settings off.
• Start from the doorway with a wide shot of the whole room, so the location is obvious.
• Take a medium shot of the affected wall, ceiling or fitting, including a door, window or radiator so the position is clear.
• Finish with close-ups, ideally with an everyday object such as a coin, ruler or mug beside the damage to show scale.
• Photograph the whole affected room, not only the worst patch — mould behind a wardrobe and condensation on the opposite wall are part of the same picture.
• Use video where a still cannot carry it: a dripping ceiling, a boiler failing to fire, a window that will not close, a noise or a draught you can describe aloud.
• Repeat the same shots from the same spot every few weeks. Persistence over time is one of the most convincing things you can show.

Protect the original files

• Keep the originals on the phone or in the cloud backup. The hidden information stored with a photo, including the date it was taken, is part of its value.
• Send copies rather than the originals, and avoid re-sending images repeatedly through messaging apps, which usually compress them and strip that information.
• Do not crop, filter or brighten the pictures you rely on. If a room is dark, put a light on and take another photograph instead.
• Back up to a second place — a cloud account, an email to yourself, or a computer — so a lost or broken phone does not cost you the whole record.

The reporting paper trail

A landlord generally has to know about a problem, or be treated as knowing about it, before it is fair to say they have failed to deal with it. That makes proof of reporting every bit as important as proof of the damage.

What to save

• Emails to and from the landlord, housing officer, letting agent or repairs team, including the sent items.
• Letters you posted, with a copy kept for yourself and, if you have it, proof of posting.
• Screenshots of tenant-portal or app entries showing the report, the date and its status — take these while the entry is still visible, because portals often archive closed jobs.
• Repair reference numbers or job numbers. These are short, easy to lose and unusually persuasive, because they tie your report to the landlord’s own system.
• Texts and WhatsApp messages, including group chats with a caretaker or contractor. Screenshot the message together with the date and the contact name.
• Notes of phone calls: the date, the time, the number you called, who you spoke to and what you were told.
• Appointments offered, appointments attended, and appointments missed by the landlord or contractor — including the ones where you took time off and nobody came.
• Formal complaints, the landlord’s complaint responses, and the stage each complaint reached.

If you have only ever reported by phone

Verbal reports still count, but they are harder to evidence. The fix is quick: send a short email or portal message today that says when you first raised the problem, what you reported, and that it is still outstanding. Even sent long afterwards, it creates a dated written record and invites a written reply.

A room-by-room approach to recording disrepair

Working through the property room by room stops you fixating on one dramatic patch and forgetting the rest. Go around once with your phone, in a set order, and note anything that is damaged, not working, or making the room harder to use.

Bedrooms

• Walls behind and beside beds and wardrobes, window reveals, and ceiling corners.
• Whether anyone has moved out of the room, or a child has been moved in with a parent, and since when.
• Damp bedding, clothes or curtains, and any musty smell.
• Windows that will not open, will not close, or have failed seals and streaming condensation.

Living room

• Ceiling and wall staining, especially below bathrooms or flat roofs.
• Radiators that stay cold, and the room temperature on a cold day if you have a thermometer.
• Flooring, skirting boards and any lifting or blown plaster.
• Sockets, light fittings or electrics affected by water.

Kitchen

• Leaks under the sink, behind appliances, and around pipework.
• Water-damaged or swollen units, worktops and kickboards.
• Extractor fans that do not work, and mould around cupboards or on food storage.
• Anything that stops you cooking or washing up normally.

Bathroom

• Failed sealant, missing or cracked tiles, and water running behind the bath or shower.
• Mould on ceilings, grout and silicone, and any extractor fan that is silent or disconnected.
• Toilets, taps or showers that leak or do not work, and any lack of hot water.
• Damage to the room below, which often shows the leak better than the bathroom itself.

Hallway, stairs and landing

• Loose handrails, broken or uneven treads, and lighting that does not work.
• Damp at the base of walls, around the front door, or under the stairs.
• Front and back doors that do not lock, close or seal properly.

Exterior, roof and guttering

• Overflowing or broken gutters and downpipes, and the wall staining beneath them, which is often the cause of internal damp.
• Missing tiles or slates, damaged flashing and sagging rooflines, photographed safely from the ground.
• Cracked render, failed pointing, blocked airbricks and ground levels above the damp course.
• Rotten window frames, doors and fascias.

Communal areas, if you have them

• Lighting, door entry systems, lifts and refuse stores.
• Water ingress in stairwells and corridors.
• Notices, letters or signs from the landlord about works, which help date the problem.

Keeping a chronology of the problem and every contact

A chronology is a plain, dated list of what happened. It is the single most useful document most tenants can produce, because it turns a folder of scattered images and messages into a story a reviewer can follow in two minutes.

What each entry should contain

• The date, and the time for phone calls.
• What happened: the problem appeared or worsened, you reported it, someone inspected, works were promised, nobody came.
• Who was involved, by name or role, and how you contacted them.
• Any reference number given.
• What evidence you have for that entry, such as “photo 12 Jan” or “email in Sent items”.
• The effect that day, if there was one — for example the back bedroom became unusable, or the heating was off for a week.

Write it in order, oldest first, and keep it factual. Fill in the past as best you can from your emails, texts and call log, and mark anything you are unsure of as approximate rather than guessing at a precise date. From today onwards, add an entry each time something happens.

Independent evidence from councils, surveyors and contractors

Evidence created by someone other than you carries additional weight, because it does not depend on your account being accepted. You do not need it to make an enquiry, but keep anything of this kind that already exists.

Sources worth keeping

• Local council Environmental Health inspections. Councils can inspect for serious hazards such as damp, mould, excess cold and safety risks, and any inspection notes, notices or letters they issue are valuable. This route is generally available to private tenants as well as social tenants.
• Reports from surveyors, damp specialists or contractors, whether arranged by you or by the landlord.
• Letters, job sheets or quotes from the landlord’s own contractors — these often describe the problem in the landlord’s own words and can confirm dates of visits.
• Gas safety records, electrical inspection reports and boiler service history.
• Correspondence from the Housing Ombudsman if you rent from a social landlord and have completed the landlord’s complaints process.
• Statements from anyone who has seen the conditions, such as a support worker, health visitor or family member.

Do not pay for a private survey on the assumption it is required. Independent inspection is helpful where it already exists or is offered free, but arranging and funding expert reports is something to discuss before spending money.

Evidence of the effect on you and your belongings

Health and medical evidence — optional and personal

If living conditions have affected someone’s health, medical records can help show that. This is entirely optional. You do not need any medical evidence to begin an enquiry, and nobody should press you into sharing health information you would rather keep private.

• Dates of GP appointments where you mentioned the conditions at home.
• Prescriptions, particularly repeat prescriptions for chest or breathing problems, and inhalers.
• Hospital or clinic letters, and any referral relating to respiratory symptoms or skin conditions.
• Letters from a health professional to the landlord or council about the conditions, if one exists.

Damaged belongings

• Photograph damaged items in place before you throw anything away, and keep an item if you reasonably can.
• Make an itemised list: what it is, roughly when you bought it, what it cost, and how it was damaged.
• Keep receipts, bank or card statements, order confirmations or online purchase histories as proof of value.
• Note replacements you have had to buy, and extra costs such as launderette use, dehumidifier running costs, or higher heating bills.
• Include furniture, bedding, clothing, carpets, electricals, children’s toys, books and documents — small items add up and are easy to forget.

We do not value claims and we never state what any of this might be worth. The point of recording it is simply that losses which are written down and evidenced can be considered, and losses that are not, generally cannot.

If you have little or no evidence

This is very common, and it is not a reason to give up. Most people do not start photographing their home expecting to need proof, and problems that have run for years often have almost nothing recorded from the early period.

Start from where you are

• Photograph and video everything today, following the wide-then-close routine, and date it.
• Send one clear written report to your landlord now listing every outstanding problem, and keep a copy.
• Search your own email, texts and call log for anything historic — sent items and call records reconstruct more of a timeline than people expect.
• Ask the landlord or agent in writing for a copy of your repair history and any job references held on their system.
• Write down what you remember, marking dates as approximate where you are not certain.
• Then keep going: an evidence file that starts today and builds for three months is far better than none.

Be aware that delay can matter for other reasons too, because legal time limits apply to disrepair claims. If your problems go back a long way, it is worth understanding those limits early rather than assuming there is no rush.

Storing and organising your evidence safely

Practical habits that pay off

• Create one folder, on your phone or in a cloud account, and put everything in it — photographs, screenshots, letters and your chronology.
• Use a consistent file naming pattern such as 2026-01-14-back-bedroom-wall, so files sort themselves into date order.
• Back up to a second location. Phones are lost, broken and stolen, and a single copy is not a record.
• Email key documents to yourself. It is a simple way of creating a dated, timestamped copy you can find later.
• Keep paper letters together in one envelope or wallet, somewhere dry — ironically, damp destroys evidence of damp.
• Do not delete the originals after sending copies to anyone, including us.
• If you leave the property, take your evidence with you and photograph the condition on the day you go.