Live in social housing? Beware shyster firms pretending to be compensation schemes for mould, damp and disrepair

Watch out for these misleading ads

The ads we've spotted use branding that's strikingly similar to what you see on Gov.uk, including fonts, logos and other familiar design elements.

The examples below have all appeared on Facebook and Instagram over the past nine months. We've reported them to Meta, the parent company of both platforms, and we're pushing for them to be taken down.

'They should be ashamed of themselves'

After we reported our findings to the Government, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing said: "Any company or individual making money by presenting themselves as the Government or a Government service should be ashamed of themselves.

"It is illegal to do this and when it is either spotted by us or raised with us, we contact the relevant regulators to investigate and take action. We thank MoneySavingExpert for continuing to raise this important issue."

You DON'T need a claims firm to get compensation for social housing issues

The misleading ads we've seen often target social housing tenants looking to complain about damp, mould and disrepair in their homes. But you DON'T need a claims firm to do this – and if you do use one, it could take a cut of 25% (or more) of any compensation you get.

We're working on a detailed step-by-step guide to help with this – you can sign up to our weekly email and we'll let you know when it's live. In the meantime, here's a brief outline of your options (note that this info is for social housing tenants; rules differ if you rent from a private landlord):

• First, contact your landlord – the council or housing association you rent from – directly to raise the issue. This step is crucial as you may not be able to escalate your complaint unless you've tried to resolve it with your landlord first.

• If your landlord doesn't respond, or if they don't fix the problem, raise a formal complaint. You can find out how to make a formal complaint on your landlord's website. This could either be a housing association, your local authority if you live in England, Scotland or Wales or the Northern Ireland Housing Executive if you live in Northern Ireland.

• If that doesn't work, you can then escalate your case to the FREE, independent ombudsman service where you live. This will be the Housing Ombudsman Service in England (which can order compensation), or the country-specific Public Services Ombudsman in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales (which can make formal recommendations to your landlord.)

• Alternatively, you can take your landlord to court for repairs or compensation. This can be a stressful and costly process, so you'll need to weigh up if it's worth doing. Free legal help may be available in cases where you're trying to get repairs done – for more on this, see housing charity Shelter's website.

Not sure if an ad is real? DON'T click – go to Gov.uk directly

The Government has put out its own adverts about social housing support on social media, including on Instagram and Facebook – for example, as part of its 'Make things right' campaign towards the end of last year:

It can be tricky to tell real Government ads apart from copycats, so the key rule to remember is:

We've long campaigned against misleading ads

This isn't the first time we've reported on misleading ads from claims firms. Last year, for example, we called out ads promoting a paid Child Trust Fund (CTF) tracing service to young adults and teens – despite the fact that you can find lost CTFs for free on Gov.uk. Those ads have since been banned.

Likewise, in February, we complained to regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) about a claims firm that was running car finance reclaim ads featuring unauthorised clips of MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis. These ads also withheld key information about exit fees and free complaint routes, the regulator found. By April, these too had been banned and removed.

Earlier this month, the FCA announced that it was investigating the claims management sector over "poor practices", including misleading ads. This latest review will be industry-wide, though the FCA has specifically highlighted housing disrepair as an area of concern.

Regulators investigating 'poor practices'

Of the six examples above:

• One ad – from 'Housing Disrepair Action' – is linked to a firm regulated by the FCA. A spokesperson for the FCA said: "People making claims deserve honesty and transparency, not adverts from claims management or law firms giving the false impression they are backed by the Government."

• Another ad – from 'Claims Helpline' – is linked to a firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The SRA told us it was "aware of concerns" around the consumer claims market, adding that it's "working hard to hold firms to account where needed and tackle consumer harm". The SRA is working with the FCA on its upcoming review of the claims market.

• The remaining ads – from 'Justice for Mums', 'Support for Housing', 'Help for UK Tenants' and 'Housing Assessment Support' – don't appear to be directly linked to any FCA- or SRA-regulated firms. If you click on them, all four ads take you to a form asking for some personal and contact details. It's unclear exactly what happens after that – however, based on similar ads we've seen in other sectors (such as car finance reclaiming) it's likely that the information you enter is then sent to a claims firm or law firm so it can take up your case.

What do the firms say?

We've attempted to contact all the firms mentioned in this story. So far we've only had a reply from one, but we'll update this story if others respond.

A spokesperson for Housing Disrepair Action, also known as National Claims (both of which are trading names of Finance Advice Helpline Ltd), told us: "National Claims remains committed to transparency, supporting vulnerable tenants, and ensuring consumers understand their rights and options. We take compliance extremely seriously and have adjusted some of our adverts. We are confident our advertising complies with current regulations, and we have also introduced further compliance checks internally."