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Getting help and advice

This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. This page applies to England only. Get advice relating to Scotland

Getting help and advice at an early stage can often prevent you becoming homeless. This section gives suggestions about what agencies you can go to for help and advice, what they do and how to contact them.

Housing advisers have knowledge of a wide range of housing issues. They can go through your housing options with you to see which is the best solution taking your personal circumstances and housing situation into account. Use our advice services directory to find details of advice centres in your area.

If you need legal advice or someone to represent you, some of the following organisations can provide it free or at a reduced cost.

Shelter's free national helpline

You can call our free national housing helpline on 0844 800 4444. Helpline advisers can:

tell you your rights
explain your options
help you to take action.

If appropriate, you may be asked to contact your local Shelter advice centre for further help.

Shelter advice centres

There are over 50 Shelter advice centres in England and Scotland. We also work closely with Shelter Cymru in Wales and Housing Rights Service in Northern Ireland. Each centre has advisers with knowledge of housing law and housing issues. They can:

tell you your rights
explain your options and help you to take action
work with you to negotiate with your council, landlord or lender.

Shelter's local advice centres have local knowledge of how councils in their area operate. They have information on the housing options that are available locally. They can offer legal representation to some clients.

Other housing aid centres

In addition to Shelter's network of advice centres there are also a number of independent centres that offer housing advice. Some of these have links to umbrella organisations such as Advice UK .

Law centres

The Law Centres Federation has information on law centres and independent legal advice services. These law centres tend to cover a number of areas of advice, including housing and benefits. They provide free legal advice and representation. As they employ solicitors they can take action at every level of court.

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice has an online advice guide, offering free, confidential, impartial and independent advice on a number of issues, including housing and benefits. They also have a network of offices across the UK, with some employing specialist housing advisers.

Council housing departments

Each council must provide advice and information about homelessness and how to prevent it. The type of service will vary. Some councils have a separate housing advice service. Other councils give advice as part of their services for homeless people. The council may do this itself or ask another agency to do it on its behalf.

Every council has duties to help certain people who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes. The council can ask another organisation to run the homelessness service.

If you are having problems getting your landlord to carry out repairs or you have a noisy neighbour, the council's environmental health department has the power to take legal action on your behalf.

The council also has powers to act against landlords who are harassing tenants or where an illegal eviction has taken place.

Social services

Social services have duties to assist some people in certain circumstances. This includes:

people under the age of 18 in need
people who have been in care
families with young children
people who are elderly, suffering from ill health or mental health problems, or have a disability.