Paradigm Housing’s repair obligations — and your rights
Every housing association tenancy comes with legal duties the landlord cannot contract out of, and Paradigm Housing is no exception. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 obliges your landlord to keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair — walls, roof, windows, doors, drains and gutters — and to keep the water, gas, electricity, sanitation and heating installations in proper working order.
On top of that, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires that your home is fit to live in, not just at the start of the tenancy but for the whole of it. Taken together, the law says your home must be:
- Safe and fit for human habitation
- Free from hazards that put your health at risk
- Kept in proper working order — heating, hot water, electrics and sanitation
- Structurally sound and protected from the weather
What counts as a “reasonable time” to fix things?
Once Paradigm Housing knows about a problem, it must fix it within a reasonable time. What’s reasonable depends on the fault: genuinely urgent hazards — a serious leak, no heating in winter, dangerous electrics — should be addressed within 24 hours, while routine repairs should follow within weeks, not months. If you’re trapped in a cycle of missed appointments, repeat inspections and patch-up jobs that don’t last, the law is on your side.
Photos, emails, letters, texts and repair job references all count as evidence. The better your records of what you reported and when, the stronger your claim — but don’t worry if they’re patchy: we’ll help you build the picture.
You can generally claim for problems going back up to six years. To understand what a claim involves, see our guides to housing disrepair claims and how much compensation you could get.