State the risk and date
Say where you are staying, why it is unsafe or ending, and the date you may have nowhere reasonable to stay.
Housing support
Choose the housing problem, then follow one clear route.
Use the immediate guide first. Then continue into the Housing Academy, copy a template or create a tracked action.
1Identify the problem
2Record evidence
3Report or challenge
4Escalate and track
Choose a route
What is happening?
Homeless or at riskNo safe place, eviction risk or nowhere reasonable to stay.Repairs not completedLeaks, heating, electrics, structural or other repair problems.Damp or mouldHealth risk, repeated growth, leaks or poor ventilation.Temporary accommodationUnsafe, unaffordable, unsuitable or too far away.Complaint ignoredNo answer, delay, poor response or unresolved complaint.Private renting problemRepairs, unsafe conditions, deposit or eviction concerns.
Immediate danger or no safe place tonight?
Call 999 where there is immediate danger. If you are homeless or may become homeless, contact your council’s housing options or homelessness service and make clear that you are asking for a homelessness assessment.
Homelessness
Ask the council for help clearly
Ask for a homelessness assessment
Use the words “I am homeless or threatened with homelessness and I am asking for an assessment and written decision.”
Give household and vulnerability evidence
Include children, pregnancy, health, disability, violence risk, care history and support needs.
Keep the written decision
Deadlines for reviews can be short. Record when the decision arrived and seek qualified advice promptly if you disagree.
Repairs
Build a repair record that can be escalated
- Report in writing and keep the repair reference.
- Describe the defect, rooms affected, safety risk and impact.
- Add dated photographs, videos and a simple chronology.
- Record missed appointments, access offered and temporary fixes.
- Ask for the repair category, target date and inspection outcome.
Damp and mould
Treat it as a property and health issue
Evidence to gather
Wide and close photographs, dates, rooms, leaks, ventilation, heating problems, damaged belongings and health effects.
Build an evidence file →What to request
Ask for an inspection, the cause, hazard assessment, treatment plan, repair plan and what support is available while work happens.
Copy damp and mould wording →Temporary accommodation
Explain why the accommodation is unsuitable
Do not only say you dislike it. Connect the facts to safety, health, children, disability, travel, affordability, space, support networks and the condition of the property.
Escalation
Use the correct complaint route
Initial report
Get a reference number and expected action date.
Formal complaint
Set out what happened, the impact, evidence, previous contacts and the remedy requested.
Final landlord response
Ask for the complaint stage, decision, reasons and next escalation route.
External escalation
For social housing complaints, the Housing Ombudsman can consider eligible unresolved complaints after the landlord process.
Private renting
Check the right enforcement and advice route
Report repairs to the landlord in writing. For unsafe conditions, the council’s private-sector housing or environmental health team may have an enforcement role. Get advice promptly if eviction or court action is involved.
Verified starting points
Official and independent support
GOV.UK homelessness help
Understand how to ask a council for help.
Open GOV.UK →Housing Ombudsman
Free service for eligible social housing complaints.
Open service →Shelter
Independent housing information and advice routes.
Open Shelter →