Sheffield Council tenants only getting 13 per cent of housing disrepair payouts

The council is battling an ever rocketing number of disrepair cases caused by a Covid backlog built up when non-urgent work was paused and the effects of changes to legislation.

At the start of 2018, the number of new disrepair cases was 117. By April this year the number had rocketed to 1,970.

Council officers said the situation was similar across the country.

Tenants can take legal action against their landlord, including local authorities, for failing to fix disrepair or damage to their rented property.

As cases have increased, legal costs have spiralled as claims farmers target social landlords because they can claim disproportionately high costs in relation to damages, the council said.

The issue was discussed at the latest housing committee meeting this week.

Dean Butterworth, head of housing investment and maintenance at the council, said the authority spent around £3 million fighting disrepair claims in the last financial year.

“We have seen a massive increase in the amount of money we are paying out,” he said.

He warned tenants were only receiving a small amount of the money the council was paying out, with solicitors taking a big cut.

Tenants received on average around £400 in compensation, compared to the £3,000 the council was paying out per case.

Mr Butterworth said: “The vast majority of that goes to solicitors dealing with these cases, not tenants who are reporting that.”

Council officers said if the authority could complete 95 per cent of repair work within 55 days it would save an estimated £3.5 million per year in disrepair claims.

However, it is currently only completing 6.5 per cent of disrepair jobs within the 55 day target.

Discussing the issue in the meeting, Coun Mazher Iqbal said: “It is devastating the impact it has on individuals and families. We recognise the impact on the quality of life it can have on individuals and families. I appreciate it’s down to the council to make sure we have the investment [to put into improving properties].”

The authority expects the number of caseloads to reach a peak in the next financial year and not return to pre-Covid levels.

Before Covid, there were on average between 117 and 200 cases per year. Officers predict this to be around 500 and 840 cases per year going forward.

The council said it was planning to increase the number of teams to tackle the caseload.

Officers said: “It is clear that we need to invest in further repair teams to ensure that we can complete a higher number of works orders per month and part of our early resolution plan is to review the number of teams working on disrepair to deliver a overall reduction in cases and a reduction in the level of compensation paid.”

It also aims to save £1.2 million through an early resolution implementation plan.