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Help for tenants

Deposits and rent

If you need advice about a deposit or your rent, contact our housing team. You can find information about deposit protection schemes and rent on the GOV.UK website. 

Help with deposits

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, we may be able to offer you support with a deposit. Our team would need to make an assessment to determine if this is the best option.

To find out more, please see our Homelessness Support page. 

Problems with your property

You can find out about your landlord’s safety responsibilities on the GOV.UK website.

Private landlords

You should contact your landlord if you have a problem with the conditions you are living in. Write a letter to them and allow a reasonable amount of time for the problem to be resolved. You should keep a copy of the letter in case you need to refer to it again.

If your landlord refuses to do the work, contact us. We can make sure the property is safe and fit to live in.

Letting agencies

Your letting agent should have their own complaints procedure to raise any issues you have with the property.

If you have already used their complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can find out which redress scheme your letting agent is a member of and contact them. You can find out more information on the Property Redress Scheme website.

Problems with your landlord

We can help resolve any disagreements you have with your landlord and investigate allegations of harassments through our tenancy relations service.

It is an offence for a landlord to harass a tenant. The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 defines harassment as something likely to interfere with the peace and comfort of those living in a property, or the persistent withdrawal of services reasonably required for the occupation of a premises.

Contact our housing team if you need advice.

You can also report concerns about your landlord or letting agent’s behaviour using our online form. You can report problems anonymously, including concerns about a private rented property or if you think a property is operating as an unlicensed house in multiple occupation.

Evictions

There are laws to protect tenants from eviction. If a landlord does not follow the correct procedure they may be committing a criminal offence. Tenancy law is complicated and you should seek legal advice before taking any action.