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Individual / Personal Injury Claims
If you have been injured, or your health has been harmed, because your landlord failed to keep your rented home safe, you may be able to claim compensation. Our personal injury solicitors act for tenants across Greater Manchester, the North West and nationally, and in most cases we can take your claim on a no win, no fee basis.
To talk through what happened, call 0161 930 5151 or use our online contact form and we will call you back. There is no cost or obligation for an initial discussion.
Landlords, whether private or a council or housing association, owe legal duties to keep rented homes in a safe condition. Where an injury is caused by their failure to do so, the law gives tenants (and often their family and visitors too) the right to claim. The main duties come from several sources:
A key practical point is that, under section 11, a landlord is usually only liable once they have been told about a problem and given a reasonable chance to fix it. Reporting defects in writing and keeping copies is therefore very important, both to protect your health and to support any later claim.
We help tenants injured by a wide range of failures to repair or maintain a property, including:
Injuries range from cuts, bruises, sprains and fractures to burns, respiratory conditions and, in the most serious cases involving gas or carbon monoxide, life-changing harm or death. Where an accident has caused a serious injury, our wider personal injury team and our catastrophic injury specialists can help, and we also handle claims following a fatal accident.
Compensation in a personal injury claim usually has two parts. General damages compensate for the injury itself, the pain, suffering and the effect on your daily life, and are assessed by reference to the Judicial College Guidelines and comparable cases. Special damages cover the financial losses caused by the injury, which you can evidence, such as lost earnings, medical and rehabilitation costs, care and assistance, travel expenses and damaged belongings. Where you are unable to work, we can also seek to arrange rehabilitation and, in appropriate cases, interim payments to help while your claim proceeds.
In most personal injury cases you have three years to start a court claim, under the Limitation Act 1980. That period usually runs from the date of the accident, or from the later date on which you first knew your injury was significant and linked to the landlord’s failure, which matters for conditions such as illness from damp that develop over time. There are important exceptions: for someone injured as a child the three years does not begin until their 18th birthday, and for a person who lacks mental capacity the time limit may not run at all. The court has a limited discretion to allow late claims, but this is not something to rely on. Because evidence is easier to gather early and deadlines are strict, it is best to seek advice as soon as you can.
We can take on most rented-home injury claims under a conditional fee agreement, commonly known as no win, no fee. This means that if your claim is not successful you do not pay our charges, and if it succeeds a success fee is deducted from your compensation, capped by law at 25% of certain parts of your damages. We will explain exactly how the funding works, and what any deductions would be, in plain English before you commit to anything, so there are no surprises.
Gorvins is a Legal 500 recognised firm based in Stockport, acting for injured people across Greater Manchester, Cheshire, the North West and throughout England and Wales. Our personal injury team has extensive experience of claims against private landlords, councils and housing associations, and we understand that an accident at home is both physically and emotionally unsettling.
When you instruct us, you will have a dedicated specialist who handles your claim from start to finish, keeps you updated and takes the pressure off you. We gather the evidence, obtain medical reports, deal with the landlord and their insurers, arrange rehabilitation where it will help your recovery, and pursue the full compensation you are entitled to. We also handle related claims such as burn injuries and brain and head injuries where these arise from an unsafe home.
To find out whether you can claim, call 0161 930 5151 or complete our online enquiry form and we will call you back to talk it through.
Possibly, yes. If you were injured because your landlord failed to keep the property safe or in repair, you may have a claim. Landlords owe duties under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Defective Premises Act 1972 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. Whether a claim succeeds depends on showing the landlord was at fault and that this caused your injury, which we can assess for you.
Usually it helps a great deal. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a landlord is generally only liable once they have been told about a defect and given a reasonable opportunity to fix it, so reporting problems in writing and keeping copies is important. However, under section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 a landlord can be liable for a defect they ought reasonably to have known about, even without a report.
In most cases, three years from the date of the accident, or from the date you first realised your injury was significant and linked to the landlord’s failure. Different rules apply to children, where the three years starts at 18, and to people who lack mental capacity. Because deadlines are strict and evidence is easier to gather early, it is best to seek advice promptly.
You can claim general damages for the injury itself, including pain, suffering and the effect on your daily life, and special damages for financial losses such as lost earnings, medical and rehabilitation costs, care, travel and damaged belongings. In appropriate cases we can also seek interim payments and arrange rehabilitation while your claim is ongoing.
It is natural to worry about this, and the law offers protections against retaliatory eviction, particularly where you have raised genuine disrepair or safety concerns. Your right to a safe home does not disappear because you are a tenant. We can advise you on your specific situation, and if a landlord’s response raises housing law issues we can point you to the right help.
In most cases we act on a no win, no fee basis, meaning you pay nothing towards our charges if the claim is unsuccessful. If your claim succeeds, a success fee is deducted from your compensation, capped by law at 25% of certain parts of your damages. We explain the funding and any deductions clearly before you commit, so you know where you stand.
