Your housing should be safe and suitable for you.

You can report any problems in your home or the area to:

• the housing provider

• Migrant Help on 0808 8010 503

This includes repairs, complaints and any situation where you think there is a risk to your health or safety.

Reporting problems will not affect your asylum claim.

Abuse from a partner or family member

Violence, threats or controlling behaviour from a partner, ex-partner or family member is domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse is a crime.

If you tell your housing provider or Migrant Help what is happening, they must:

• believe you

• offer somewhere else that is safe

• move you immediately if you accept the offer

Your children can come with you.

You might be moved to a specialist refuge for women.

Violence or harassment from other people

Violence or harassment from other people is a crime.

This includes behaviour from:

• neighbours

• members of the public

• your housing provider or their staff

• other people who live in the same place

If anyone harasses you because of your race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity, this is called a hate crime.

Find out more about hate crime from Migrants' Rights Network.

Reporting a crime

If someone tries to hurt you, it is not your fault.

You can report domestic abuse, hate crimes and other crimes to the police.

If you are in danger, you can call the police on 999.

Reporting a crime will not affect your claim for asylum.

You can also speak to a charity if you do not want to tell the police.

Reporting repairs or bad conditions

You may have to stay in a hotel at first. It should still be safe.

Longer term asylum housing is sometimes called 'dispersal accommodation'.

You will get an occupancy agreement. This tells you the house rules, how to report repairs or complain about your asylum support.

GOV.UK has a guide to living in dispersal accommodation. It is available in these languages: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian, Tigrinya and Urdu.

It has more information on:

• the standard of housing you should get

• how soon repairs should be fixed

Call Migrant Help on 0808 8010 503 if your housing does not meet these standards.

Help from the local council

You can call your local council's environmental health team if the property is dangerous or is making you ill. They can force the housing provider to do repairs.

Your council can help if there are problems such as:

• leaking pipes

• dangerous wiring

• bad damp and mould

• the property is very hot or very cold

• problems with security, like broken door locks

Environmental health cannot usually help if the council owns the property you live in.