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Webchat

Open: Mon to Fri, 8am to 5pm
Closed: weekends and bank holidays

We do not provide accommodation but we can give advice.

Our advisers can help if:

  • you are homeless

  • you have nowhere to stay tonight

  • you are at risk of abuse or harm at home

  • you are worried about losing your home in the next 2 months

You might not get through if you try to chat with us about other types of housing problem.

We only advise on housing law in England.

For advice in Scotland, try Shelter Scotland. For advice in Wales, try Shelter Cymru.

You can leave the chat quickly with the EXIT SITE button or press Esc on your keyboard twice.

This will:

  • open BBC Weather in a new tab

  • take your original tab to a Google search for the weather

Shelter might still show in your internet history.

Find out how to stay safe online.

Chat with an adviser

Our webchat service is in high demand. You might wait over an hour at busy times.

Your chat will be answered unless you are still in the queue at 5pm when the service closes.

Try our advice pages if you cannot get through or have another type of housing problem.

Report a technical issue with our webchat service.

Get a copy of your chat

Click 'request transcript' at the top of the chat to get a short summary of the advice by email. This includes links to our website.

If you need advice in another language

Webchat is in English so you may need a friend or family member to help. Services like ChatGPT and Google Translate may not translate our advice properly.

Tell your adviser:

  • you need an interpreter

  • which language you need

We can arrange a call with an interpreter. This takes a few minutes.

Professionals and volunteers

Use our expert housing advice service if you're helping a service user with a housing problem.

Webchat and phone advice: Mon to Fri, 8am to 5pm

Other places to get advice

GOV.UK has advice for private landlords.

Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) has advice for leaseholders.

Advice that helped other people

I am homeless or could be soon

I cannot afford my rent

I want to end my private tenancy

I need to get my deposit back

I have damp or repair problems in my home

Looking for something else? See all of our housing advice.