Tenant Injury Compensation Claims

Many tenants find renting a property stressful and fear any type of communication with their landlord. That fear can intensify if you’re injured inside your rented property because of your landlord’s negligence. That shouldn’t be the case though as you’d be well within your rights to think about making a personal injury claim against them. This guide explains how you should go about claiming compensation from a landlord and the types of accidents you may be entitled to claim for.

If you are contemplating claiming against your landlord for a personal injury, we can help. If you call our claims advisors, one of our specialists will listen to what’s happened and answer your questions. If they believe you should be compensated, they’ll partner you with a personal injury solicitor from our panel. Any claim that’s taken on is handled on a No Win, No Fee basis so you don’t need to pay legal fees unless you are compensated.

To find out more about landlord compensation claims, please read on or you can call us on 0800 652 1345 at any point with any questions.

What responsibilities do landlords have?

Whether you rent a property from the local council, a housing association or a private landlord, they will have a legal duty to make some repairs to the property. Generally, this will mean they are liable for repairs to:

• The main structure and exterior of the building. This can include the roof, walls, drains, gutters, foundations, windows, external pipes and external doors.
• Bathroom furniture including toilets, baths, sinks, basins and any associated pipework.
• Gas and water pipes, water tanks, radiators, boilers, electrical wiring, fitted fires (gas or electric) and fitted heaters.

Hoandlords only need to make repairs when they know about them so you have a duty to inform them of any problems as soon as possible. Other problems may be identified by annual property inspections (these usually are separate to fire safety and electrical or gas checks).

Your rental agreement may provide details of your responsibilities and repairs you’ll need to make (usually minor repairs) whilst staying in the property. However, nothing in your agreement can remove the landlord’s obligation to repair those items listed above.

Can I claim compensation from my landlord?

It is important to point out that tenants have a lot more rights these days thanks to several legalisation changes. Acts such as the Landlords and Tenants Act 1985 are in place to set out what responsibilities landlords have and to protect the rights of tenants. That means that, in many cases, landlords have a legal duty of care to maintain their properties and to keep them as safe as possible.

If you wish to make a personal injury claim against your landlord, you’ll need to show that:

• They breached a legal duty of care because they were negligent; and
• An accident occurred inside or on the grounds of your rental property; and
• You were made ill or sustained an injury as a result.

All three of the criteria must be met if you’re to claim personal injury compensation from a landlord and you’ll need to prove what they did wrong if your claim is to be successful. Later on in this guide, we’ll show you what types of proof could be useful.

Common accidents that can cause injuries to tenants

We won’t list every potential compensation claim against landlords in this guide but to give you some idea of when you could sue your landlord, we’ve added some example scenarios below:

• Slips, trips and falls. You may be able to claim if you’ve fallen because of a raised floorboard, poorly fitted carpet or damaged handrails on stairs.
• Damp and mould. If you were made ill because of mould that you’ve reported to your landlord, you could be eligible to claim compensation. This is especially true if the underlying cause was not repaired.
• Scalds and burns. You may be able to claim if you’ve been scalded because your shower has a faulty thermostat.
• Falling masonry. If a ceiling or wall is damaged and not repaired by your landlord, you may be able to claim if masonry falls on you and causes an injury.
• Electric shock. As a landlord is supposed to check electrical safety in rental properties (at least every 5 years), you could claim if they fail to do so and you suffered an electrical shock.
• Carbon monoxide poisoning. Similarly, if your gas boiler or a fitted gas fire hasn’t been checked or maintained properly, you could claim compensation from your landlord for any suffering caused.

These are just a few examples of when you could claim compensation from your landlord. Remember, though, in many cases you must have reported any problems you’ve spotted to them. If you have, and they’ve failed to act in a timely manner, you may have grounds to pursue a compensation claim.

What compensation can I claim from my landlord?

In a personal injury claim against your landlord, you could be entitled to claim for any physical, mental or financial implications linked to an accident in a rented property that was not your fault. Each claim is unique but if you win your claim, it may include damages to cover:

• Physical injuries and the associated pain and suffering.
• Psychiatric harm including depression, anxiety and distress.
• Loss of amenity i.e. if any of your usual activities have to stop while you’re injured.
• Any lost earnings and, in some cases, future lost earnings.
• The time someone else spent caring for you while you were incapacitated.
• Physiotherapy, private treatment and other medical expenses.
• Travel costs.
• The cost of replacing personal property damaged during your accident.
• Mobility aids and devices that make it easier for you to cope with any permanent disability.

Our team of solicitors have been managing personal injury claims for many years so they know what you can and cannot be compensated for. In all claims they take on, they’ll always try to secure the highest level of compensation possible.

Providing proof for an injury claim against a landlord

As you can imagine, your landlord’s insurers are unlikely to agree to pay compensation unless you can prove:

• How your accident occurred;
• Why your landlord was to blame;
• That you’re not claiming for pre-existing injuries or injuries sustained elsewhere.

As such, you’ll need to supply as much proof to support your claim as possible. This could include:

• Medical evidence. Medical notes from your GP, a hospital or minor injuries unit could be used to prove the extent of your injuries.
• Emails and text messages. If you sent your landlord a message about the problem that ended up injuring you or making you ill, it could be used as proof to support your claim.
• Photographic proof. You should try you take a series of pictures from various angles to show the defect that caused you to suffer. You should do this before your landlord arranges for a repair to be carried out.
• Financial records. To help claim back any costs incurred as a result of your injuries, you should keep track of them and provide supporting receipts, bank statements or wage slips.
• Witness statements. If your landlord argues with your version of events, your solicitor could ask anyone who saw your accident for a statement. As such, with the witness’s permission, you should provide them with their contact details.

It’s not vital for you to have all of the proof we’ve listed right at the start of the claims process. The first thing to do is to call us for a free case review and your solicitor will help you to collect any missing proof if they agree to represent you.

No Win, No Fee claims

Starting legal action against your landlord will be stressful enough without having to worry about the cost of hiring a solicitor. For that reason, our personal injury solicitors work on a No Win, No Fee basis for any personal injury claims they agree to work on.

When you’ve discussed your claim with your solicitor, they’ll send a No Win, No Fee agreement to be signed. As the name suggests, No Win, No Fee means that:

• There are no legal fees to pay if your claim fails.
• You won’t be asked to pay any legal fees in advance.
• You’ll only need to pay for your solicitor’s work if you are compensated.

If you are awarded compensation, a success fee will be deducted to cover your legal fees. By law, this fee cannot exceed more than 25 per cent of your damages.

Once you’ve signed the contract, your solicitor will start the claims process. They’ll deal with your landlord or their insurers on your behalf so you won’t have to answer any questions directly.

As the claim progresses, you’ll be kept up to date with any progress and if any settlement offers are received, they’ll be discussed with you before they are accepted.

We’ll check whether you could claim on a No Win, No Fee basis as part of your free initial consultation.

Is there a time limit to claim compensation against a landlord?

Claims against landlords for personal injuries have a 3-year time limit in the same way as other personal injury claims. That means you’ll typically need to claim within 3-years of the date of your accident, or from when your injury or illness was diagnosed. That is quite a long time but we’d suggest that you don’t leave things until the last minute as your solicitor will have a good amount of work to do before your claim is filed.

If your claim against your landlord is on behalf of your child, you can begin the child personal injury claims process at any point before their 18^th birthday as that’s when their time limit will begin.

To see how long you’ve got left to sue your landlord for compensation, please contact our team today.

Start a claim against a landlord today

If you’ve decided it’s time to take action against your landlord, call us on 0800 652 1345 to see if we can help. By speaking with one of our specialists, you’ll find out whether we believe you should be compensated. Whatever happens, we’ll provide no obligation and free legal advice about your claim.

If one of our personal injury lawyers takes on your claim, there won’t be any legal fees to pay upfront and you won’t pay any if the claim fails either. Their No Win, No Fee service will reduce the stress involved in claiming against your landlord as much as possible.

You can call our claims advisors to discuss your claim now or we’re happy to discuss claiming compensation from a landlord via our live chat service.