Tenant Injury Claims
Does your claim qualify? Get free, no obligation advice!
If you’ve been injured as a result of your landlord’s negligence, or you’ve sustained injuries on the property of your landlord, and it wasn’t your fault, you could be eligible to make a tenant injury claim.
As a tenant with either a private landlord or a local authority, you assume that the person responsible for ensuring your rental property is safe and fit for purpose takes their duty seriously.
If a landlord or a local authority fails in their duty of care to ensure that your dwelling is safe and fit for habitation, you may be entitled to make a compensation claim for any injury caused by their negligence.
Find out more about making claims against local authorities.
This could include disrepair to the floors, walls, or even ceiling; it can be mould growth due to poor ventilation or faulty plumbing. If you’ve sustained an injury as the result of your landlord’s negligence, or you’ve suffered an illness as a result of your landlord not carrying out their duty, you could be eligible to make a tenant injury claim.
To find out more about the personal injury claims process, or to talk through your experience with a trained legal advisor, call 0800 234 6438 today. They’ll listen to you and help determine whether you have a claim to pursue. If they believe you do, they’ll partner you with specialist solicitors who will take on your case on a no win no fee basis.
If you’ve been injured or you’ve suffered an illness and you believe your landlord or the local authority is to blame, you could consider taking legal action against them to seek compensation.
As a tenant, you are reliant on your landlord or your local council keeping your home properly maintained. If they fail in their legal duty to maintain your rental property, and you believe their negligence resulted in your injuries, you might be eligible to claim against them.
The most common injuries sustained by tenants in a home can include:
A landlord’s duty of care refers to the legal responsibility of a landlord to ensure the safety and well-being of tenants on the property they are renting, as laid out in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
This includes taking reasonable steps to maintain the property in a safe and habitable condition, and to repair any known hazards or dangerous conditions in a timely manner.
For example, if you’ve developed asthma as a result of mould growing in the property, and you’d told the landlord about the mould, but they failed to act and you suffered as a result, you could make a successful claim against them.
Specifically, the landlord has a duty of care to:
This duty of care applies throughout the tenancy, and the landlord is expected to take action to address any hazards or dangerous conditions that are brought to their attention, whether by the tenant or by a governmental agency.
If a landlord fails to fulfill this duty of care and a tenant is injured as a result, the tenant may be able to seek compensation for their injuries through a tenant injury compensation claim.
If you are injured because of your landlord’s negligence, there are several steps you can take in order to help proving liability so you can seek compensation for your injuries:
Take photos of the accident scene, gather witness statements and make a record of your injury. When you are injured due to your landlord’s negligence, it’s important to document the injury as soon as possible.
The photos and witness statements can be used as evidence in a court case, while your personal record of the injury can be used to track your medical expenses and lost wages.
Inform your landlord of the accident and the injury as soon as possible, and ask them to document the incident in writing. This is important because it puts the landlord on notice of the injury and the need for repairs or improvements.
You should also ask the landlord to document the incident in writing, as this will provide a record of the accident and the landlord’s response.
If you are injured, it’s important to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Not only will this help you recover from the injury, but it also provides a record of your injuries and the medical treatment you received. Keep all medical bills and records, as you will need them for any future legal action.
Depending on the nature of the injury, you may want to file a complaint with the local housing authority, the health and safety department, or the local government housing department.
These organisations can investigate the incident and take action against the landlord if they find that the landlord was negligent.
To find out how much compensation you could be entitled to claim, use our compensation calculator, or speak to a personal injury lawyer who will be able to give you a more specific figure.
To provide you with a ballpark amount for the worse case scenario, the Judicial College Guidelines state:
When making a compensation claim against your landlord, there are certain damages your personal injury solicitor will pursue for you. These damages are typically split into two types:
General damages will compensate you for any non-financial losses you may have incurred as a result of your landlord negligence. These can include injury or illness you’ve sustained, for example, because the rented property was allowed to fall into disrepair.
The amount of compensation you could be awarded for general damages will depend on the pain and suffering of the actual injury you sustained, the injury severity, and the impact the injury has had on your quality of life.
The more serious the injury or illness, the more compensation you will likely receive.
The thing to remember about special damages is that they’re quantified and calculated by their value. This means that if you have a claim for special damages, you need to prove that you specifically lost out financially as a result of the injury or illness you’ve sustained.
Your personal injury lawyer will work out exactly how much money this loss represents in order to calculate your compensation.
Special damages can include, but aren’t limited to:
If you’ve been unable to work as a result of your injury or illness, you won’t have been earning money. And why should you suffer financially because of your landlord’s negligence? Your solicitor will work out how much income you didn’t receive and the ramifications of that, for example:
In addition to general damages for pain and suffering, you may also be able to recover your medical costs. These include:
In addition to the cost of treatment and any medical supplies you might have needed, it is also possible to claim for any out-of-pocket expenses that you had as a result of your injury. This could include items such as taxi fares, petrol or bus tickets.
If you’ve suffered injuries severe enough that you are unable to care for yourself or your children, and you require additional care for yourself or your children, or help with cooking and cleaning, for example.
In the United Kingdom, there is a general time limit of three years for making a personal injury claim. This means that claimants must begin court proceedings within three years of the date of the accident or injury.
However, the limitation date can be extended in certain circumstances. For example, if the person making the claim is a minor at the time of the accident or injury, the limitation period does not begin until their 18th birthday.
Additionally, if the person making the claim is suffering from a mental disorder that prevents them from making a claim, the limitation period may be extended.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the limitation period may be shorter or longer depending on the circumstances of the claim. For example, claims for negligence must be brought within three years of the date of the alleged negligence, or within three years of the date of knowledge that the injury was caused by negligence, whichever is the later.
If your landlord is threatening you with eviction, it’s important to understand your legal rights. A landlord cannot evict a tenant simply because they have made a personal injury claim against them.
However, if you are being threatened with eviction, don’t let them intimidate or scare you into not making a claim.
In the United Kingdom, tenants have certain legal rights and protections against eviction. Specifically, landlords are not allowed to evict tenants for complaining about or reporting dangerous or unsafe conditions, or for seeking legal remedies for injuries or damages caused by the landlord’s failure to maintain the rental unit.
If your landlord is threatening you with eviction if you make a personal injury claim against them, you can report this to the relevant housing authority, such as the Local Authority or the Housing Ombudsman. It may be considered as illegal retaliation, known as retaliatory eviction, and they can take action against your landlord.
You should also consult with an attorney who is experienced in handling tenant-landlord disputes in the UK. They will be able to advise you on your legal rights, including the possibility of taking legal action to prevent your eviction, or to claim compensation if you have been illegally evicted.
You should also keep a record of any communication with your landlord, including any threats of eviction, and any actions you take to report the problem or seek legal remedies. This can be useful evidence if you decide to take legal action.
It’s important to remember that you have the right to safe living conditions and the right to legal remedies if those conditions are not met, and you should not be threatened or retaliated against for asserting your rights.
If you believe that your landlord failed to take steps to protect you while you are/were living in their property, and you suffered injury or illness as a result of their negligence, then you may be able to make a claim.
Speak to a legal advisor for free on 0800 234 6438 and find out if you’re able to begin legal proceedings.
If you have been injured in your rented accommodation, and your negligent landlord is responsible for the accident, then you may be able to make a claim against them.
In order to make a personal injury claim against your landlord or local authority, it is important that you understand what constitutes liability and how it can be proven.
A landlord is legally responsible for injuries caused to their tenants if they have been negligent in some way while maintaining or managing the property. This means that landlords have an obligation to keep their premises safe and secure so as not to injure anyone who lives there.
If your landlord failed in their legal duty and you’ve sustained a personal injury as a result, whether that’s minor injuries, moderate injuries, or severe injuries, you could be eligible to make a claim.
To find out how to seek compensation from your landlord, or to learn out more about how to make a no win no fee claim, call 0800 234 6438 today and speak with a trained legal advisor. If they believe you have a claim to make, they’ll pass you onto a personal injury solicitor who will act on your behalf to secure you the compensation you deserve.
You can claim compensation as both.
As a private tenant in the United Kingdom, you may be able to claim compensation from your landlord if you have been injured or suffered damages due to their negligence or failure to maintain safe living conditions. This might include compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
You can claim compensation from your landlord for injuries that you sustained or illnesses you contracted as a result of the landlord’s failure to comply with their legal obligations to repair and maintain the property. You can also claim for injuries caused by a lack of security or for injuries resulting from a failure to deal with hazards such as asbestos, lead or gas safety hazards.
It is important to note that in order to make a claim for compensation, you will need to prove that your landlord was negligent or failed to take reasonable steps to ensure your safety, so it’s important to have good records of any injuries and evidence of the hazardous condition that caused it.
As a council tenant you are also able to claim for compensation for injuries or damages caused by the council’s failure to maintain safe living conditions or breach of their legal obligations in relation to the property.
Do not feel intimidated or threatened by bringing a claim against a large government organisation. In fact, doing so could potentially improve the situation of many more people. With more than 16% of the UK’s population living in council housing, you could be doing your local community a favour!
Plus, your local authority is subject to the same legal duty of care as a private landlord, and will be held accountable in exactly the same way.
Yes, you can make a tenant injury claim against a former landlord. You do not have to be living in the property to make a tenant injury claim. You can still make a tenant injury claim if you have moved out of the property, and it does not matter whether or not your landlord is still managing that property.
This is why it’s so important to document evidence at the time of the injury or illness that the landlord’s negligence or failure to maintain safe living conditions.
Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and non-practising solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.
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If you win your case, your solicitor's success fee will be taken from the compensation you are awarded - up to a maximum of 25%. Your solicitor will discuss any fees before starting your case.
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