Housing legal aid in England and Wales
Housing legal aid covers urgent threats to a person's home: possession proceedings, unlawful eviction, serious disrepair, and homelessness reviews. It's one of the broadest remaining areas of legal aid for civil matters because the consequences of getting it wrong are losing your home.
Providers on LawStreet
Offices on LawStreet
Postcode areas covered
Showing 195 of 365 Housing providers from the LAA's directory. Why?
About this category
What is Housing legal aid?
Who housing legal aid is for
Housing legal aid focuses on situations where someone's home is at immediate risk or where serious housing conditions are causing health problems. Unlike most areas of civil legal aid, the scope here is relatively wide, reflecting the Government's view that housing is a foundational right worth protecting through publicly-funded representation.
Means and merits tests apply for most housing cases. Some specific situations (such as people facing imminent eviction with nowhere to go) may also qualify for the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, which is a separate scheme listed as its own category on this platform.
What's covered
Housing legal aid is in scope for:
- Possession proceedings: defending against the landlord's or lender's claim to take back the property, whether the claim is for rent arrears, mortgage arrears, anti-social behaviour, breach of tenancy, or the end of an assured shorthold tenancy.
- Unlawful eviction: the tenant has been put out of their home without proper legal process. Both injunctions (to be let back in) and damages claims are covered.
- Serious disrepair: where the landlord has failed to keep the property in a habitable condition and the disrepair is causing a health risk. Both injunctions (to make the landlord carry out repairs) and damages claims are covered.
- Homelessness reviews: the local authority has decided a homeless person is not entitled to housing (for example, on the grounds that they're not in priority need, or are intentionally homeless), and the tenant wants to challenge the decision.
- Anti-social behaviour defence: defending against an injunction or possession claim brought on anti-social behaviour grounds.
- Harassment by a landlord, agent, or other party.
How to apply
Most people first contact a housing legal aid solicitor when they receive a court summons or a possession claim, or when the local authority has made a homelessness decision they want to challenge. The solicitor will assess eligibility on the means test, gather evidence, and represent the tenant in court or in correspondence with the other side.
If you've received a notice from your landlord but the case hasn't yet gone to court, it's worth contacting a housing legal aid solicitor or HLPAS provider straight away. Acting early often gives more options than waiting for the court date.
Housing and HLPAS
The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) is a separate, more focused scheme on this platform. HLPAS provides free advice at county court on possession days, regardless of income. If you're facing a court hearing about possession of your home, an HLPAS solicitor can help on the day without an appointment. HLPAS is for the immediate court contact; full Housing legal aid covers the wider case and longer-running matters.
Find a solicitor
Featured Housing providers
A selection of firms on our platform holding an active Housing contract. View the full list of Housing solicitors with legal aid.
Where they are based
Housing providers by region
Listed Housing providers grouped by region and postcode area. Counts show distinct providers with at least one office in that area.
East Midlands 13
East of England 13
North East 10
North West 17
South West 11
Wales 9
West Midlands 12
Yorkshire and The Humber 19
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
A Section 21 notice ends an assured shorthold tenancy without needing to show a reason. If the notice is valid and the procedure is right, legal aid can't generally stop the eviction. But there are many procedural requirements (deposit protection, gas safety, EPC, electrical safety) and if any are not met, the notice is invalid and the eviction can be stopped. A housing legal aid solicitor can review the notice for these issues.
Housing covers the full range of housing legal aid (possession, disrepair, homelessness, unlawful eviction). HLPAS is a more focused scheme providing free duty-style advice at county court on possession days, regardless of income. Many firms hold both contracts. For an upcoming court hearing, look at HLPAS providers in your court's area; for wider housing matters, look at Housing.
Yes. Legal aid covers homelessness reviews, where you ask the local authority to look again at a decision they made about your homelessness application. If the review decision is also against you, legal aid covers a county court appeal. Time limits are strict (21 days for a review request) so don't delay.
Yes, where the disrepair is serious enough to cause a health risk. Legal aid covers injunctions requiring the landlord to carry out the repairs and damages claims for the impact on you. You will need evidence (photos, GP letters, environmental health reports) and the landlord needs to have been told about the problem and given a reasonable chance to fix it.
Contact a housing legal aid solicitor immediately. Unlawful eviction is a criminal offence as well as a civil wrong, and legal aid covers urgent injunctions to be let back in plus damages claims. Most cases are resolved within 24-48 hours when handled quickly.