Housing disrepair litigation has grown sharply as tenants enforce their rights to safe, healthy homes — and as Awaab’s Law and the extended Decent Homes Standard raise the bar for landlords. Whether you act for tenants or landlords, credible cases need an independent surveyor’s assessment. Manchester Surveyors provides housing disrepair expert witness reports across the social and private rented sectors.
What Our Disrepair Reports Cover
- Defect identification and causation — damp and mould (with the crucial distinction between condensation, rising and penetrating damp), structural defects, failed services, water ingress
- Liability mapping — which defects fall within the landlord’s repairing obligations under section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, fitness for habitation under the 2018 Act, and HHSRS hazard categories
- Notice and access history — how long defects have plausibly existed and whether repairs were attempted competently
- Remedial specifications and costs — what it will actually take to put the property right
Balanced Evidence, Both Sides Instructed
We accept instructions from tenant solicitors, social landlords, private landlords and insurers — frequently as Single Joint Expert under the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Condition Claims. Our reports are CPR Part 35 compliant, photographically evidenced, and written in plain English so that judges, housing officers and tenants can all follow the reasoning.
Related Expertise
Our independence matters: we are surveyors, not a claims firm, and our findings are grounded in the same methods used in our independent damp surveys and stock condition surveys for housing providers.
Need a disrepair inspection and report? Get in touch — we inspect promptly nationwide, including Manchester, Birmingham and London.
How Expert Witness Instructions Work
Housing disrepair instructions turn on cause, extent and consequence: whether damp, mould or defects arise from disrepair within the landlord’s obligations or from other causes, what remedial works are required, and how conditions have affected habitability — with Awaab’s Law raising the stakes for social landlords. Instructions usually come from solicitors, though parties can approach us directly for an initial merits view before proceedings are contemplated. We accept appointments as party-appointed expert or as single joint expert, and every report is CPR Part 35 compliant: independent, reasoned, and addressed to the court rather than the instructing party.
Format, Timescales and Fees
We inspect to the Housing Conditions Protocol, report for claimants or defendant landlords, and our independent damp survey methodology underpins the causation analysis courts scrutinise most. Typical timescales run from two to six weeks depending on inspection access and documentation; urgent directions-driven deadlines can usually be accommodated. Fees are fixed at instruction, with joint statements, Part 35.6 questions and hearing attendance priced separately and transparently. Read more about what an expert witness does.
Will the expert support my case?
An expert’s duty is to the court, which is precisely why credible expert evidence settles cases: if your position is strong, an independent report proves it; if it is weak, you find out before spending heavily on litigation. Either answer is worth having early. Call 020 4579 8270 to discuss an instruction.