Housing Disrepair Success Fees Explained: What You Keep When You Win

When you make a housing disrepair claim on a no win no fee basis, a success fee is the percentage of your compensation that your solicitor deducts if the claim succeeds. It is the mechanism by which a solicitor is paid for the risk they take in funding your case without charge unless you win, and understanding exactly how it works before you sign a conditional fee agreement matters.

What Is a Success Fee?

A conditional fee agreement, the formal name for a no win no fee arrangement, sets out the terms on which your solicitor will act. Under that agreement, if your claim is unsuccessful, your solicitor does not charge you for the legal work carried out. In exchange for taking on that financial risk, if your claim succeeds, the solicitor is entitled to charge a success fee on top of their basic costs.

In housing disrepair claims, the success fee is almost always expressed as a percentage of the compensation you recover. It is deducted from your damages before the balance is paid to you. So if you recover £3,000 in compensation and your success fee is 25%, £750 is deducted and you receive £2,250.

The success fee is not the same as your solicitor’s basic legal costs. Those costs are usually recovered from the losing party, meaning your landlord, where the claim succeeds. The success fee comes out of your compensation, and it is separate from, and additional to, whatever the landlord pays in legal costs.

Why Do Solicitors Charge a Success Fee?

A solicitor working on a no win no fee basis carries the cost of your case throughout the whole claims process, sometimes over many months, with no guarantee of payment. If the claim fails, they receive nothing. The success fee reflects that financial risk: it is higher for cases that are harder to win, and lower where liability is clearer.

This is different from instructing a solicitor on a privately paying basis, where you pay for the legal work as it is done regardless of the outcome. The no win no fee model shifts the financial risk from you to the solicitor, and the success fee is how the solicitor is compensated for taking on that risk.

What Success Fees Do Firms Typically Charge?

Success fee percentages in housing disrepair claims vary between firms and are not regulated to a fixed cap in the way some other claim types are. In practice, market rates across housing disrepair firms range considerably. Some firms take up to 50% of the compensation recovered as their success fee, and deductions of 25% or more are common across the sector.

This means the success fee can have a significant impact on what you actually receive. A claim settled for £4,000 with a 25% success fee returns £3,000 to you. The same settlement with a 50% success fee returns £2,000. The percentage matters, and it is worth understanding before you sign anything.

How Does This Affect What You Receive?

The practical effect of the success fee depends on two things: the size of your compensation award and the percentage your solicitor charges. Because housing disrepair awards can range considerably, from a few hundred pounds for a minor resolved defect to several thousand for long-running serious disrepair affecting a family’s health, the deduction can be material.

To illustrate without implying any specific outcome:

• A compensation award of £2,000 with a 25% success fee: you receive £1,500
• A compensation award of £2,000 with a 10% success fee: you receive £1,800
• A compensation award of £5,000 with a 25% success fee: you receive £3,750
• A compensation award of £5,000 with a 10% success fee: you receive £4,500

The success fee percentage directly determines how much of your own compensation you keep. It is one of the most important terms in a conditional fee agreement, and one that is not always explained clearly at the outset.

What Should You Check Before Signing a CFA?

Before entering into a conditional fee agreement for a housing disrepair claim, you should ask your solicitor to confirm, in writing:

• The exact success fee percentage that will apply to your case
• Whether the success fee is calculated on the total compensation recovered or only on a specific element of it
• Whether there are any other deductions from your compensation, such as disbursements not covered elsewhere
• What happens if you need to cancel the agreement and when cancellation charges might apply
• Whether after the event insurance is included, and what it covers

A reputable solicitor will provide this information clearly and without pressure. If any of these points are unclear before you sign, ask for clarification in writing before committing.

Satchell Moran’s August 2026 Offer: 10% Success Fee on Housing Disrepair Claims

Throughout August 2026, Satchell Moran Solicitors is reducing its success fee for housing disrepair claims from 25% to 10%. This means that for any housing disrepair claim where a conditional fee agreement is signed during August 2026, you retain 90% of your compensation if your claim succeeds, rather than 75%.

This is not a standard market rate. Across the housing disrepair sector, success fees of 25% are common and deductions of up to 50% are not unheard of. A 10% success fee means a significantly larger share of any compensation award stays with you, the tenant who has been living with the disrepair.

The offer applies to housing disrepair claims only and requires a conditional fee agreement to be signed during August 2026. As with all Satchell Moran housing disrepair claims, the no win no fee terms mean you pay nothing if your claim is unsuccessful, and there is no upfront cost to starting.

What Counts as a Housing Disrepair Claim for This Offer?

The August 2026 offer applies to civil housing disrepair claims brought against social landlords, including councils and housing associations, where Satchell Moran acts under a conditional fee agreement. This covers the full range of housing disrepair claims the firm handles, including claims for:

• Damp, mould, and structural defects
• Leaking roofs and plumbing failures
• Faulty heating and hot water systems
• Damaged belongings and personal injury caused by disrepair conditions

The firm acts for social housing tenants only. If you rent from a private landlord, housing disrepair claims of this type fall outside the firm’s eligibility criteria.

How to Start a Housing Disrepair Claim This August

If you believe you have grounds for a housing disrepair claim and want to take advantage of the reduced success fee:

1. Get in touch with Satchell Moran Solicitors during August 2026 for a free, no obligation initial assessment of your claim.
2. Gather your evidence, including photographs of the disrepair, written records of reports made to your landlord, and any correspondence received in response.
3. Review your conditional fee agreement carefully before signing, including the success fee percentage and all other key terms.
4. Ask any questions about the agreement before committing. A solicitor acting in your interests will welcome this rather than discourage it.

You can read more about how housing disrepair claims work and what the process involves on our housing disrepair claims page, and our guide to housing repair breach claims sets out the circumstances in which a landlord’s failure to repair gives rise to a legal claim.

Speak to Satchell Moran Solicitors

If you are a council or housing association tenant living with unresolved disrepair, Satchell Moran Solicitors can assess your claim at no cost and with no obligation. For conditional fee agreements signed during August 2026, our success fee on housing disrepair claims is 10%, meaning you keep more of the compensation you are entitled to. We hold dual Lexcel accreditation and act exclusively on a no win, no fee basis. Get in touch today to find out whether you have grounds for a claim.