A group of rental activists in London claims that over 10,000 private rented homes in the borough of Brent have a serious health hazard. 

It does not explain how it came to that figure but it says: “Damp and mould are making us sick, leading to asthma, respiratory issues, skin conditions, and  mould poisoning.  Our children’s health is in crisis because landlords are being allowed to get away with not keeping our homes safe. Damp and mould mean people can’t use some rooms, and are overcrowded in the others. This meant that Church End had the highest Covid death rate in the country.”

The campaigners are pressing Brent’s Labour-controlled council to come down harder and more frequently on rogue landlords – but it insists that to do so, the elected councillors must strike some sort of deal with the self-appointed LRU over the timescale for action. 

They say: “Brent council has a legal duty to make sure our homes are safe but their current plan isn’t good enough. In the areas of Brent where housing is most dangerous, they’re only promising to deal with 10 per cent of the most serious problems this year. What about the other 90 per cent of renters left with unsafe homes?”

The LRU’s open letter to Brent council says: “We support Brent LRU’s plan for how the council can deal with the damp and mould crisis by taking action when landlords fail to keep our homes safe. 

“Brent council must:

“- Agree a timeline with the London Renters Union for dealing with the 10,000 unsafe private rented homes in Brent, and recruit the staff to do it.

“- Ensure that Environmental Health cases can never be closed before sending a report on what has been done to the tenant and confirming it with them.

“- Make interpretation available for the PRS enforcement team, especially in ,  Arabic,Somali, Portuguese, Romanian, Urdu and Hindi.

“- Inspect ALL properties where a landlord has applied for a licence within 1 year, instead of 50% over 5 years.

“- Issue Improvement Notices that protect us from eviction while dealing with disrepair, and fine the landlords that refuse to fix up.”