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Russell Conway@13:14, I think you're right. I work for a local authority and since free standing disrepair complaints were taken out of scope for legal aid we are inundated with disrepair claims from companies (all based in Liverpool and the Northwest) using damages based agreements inappropriately. This leads to advice to tenants from those firms not to let us in to carry out repairs, so that they can try an maximise costs. The tenants are forced to wait for repairs to be completed, sometimes well over a year after these firms are instructed and even if successful, which is rarely, will have a chunk of any damages ( on average about £1000 at most C/F with over £20k in costs) taken off them. Frankly these firms are a disgrace. Much better all round to bring all housing matters in scope and have them dealt with properly by reputable firms who know what they're doing. I couldn't agree more that this goes hand in hand with welfare rights advice, debt advice and employment advice, all of which should be back in scope,