The government says it’s reviewing landlord guidance on the health risks of damp and mould following the death of two year old Awaab Ishak.
Although Awaab died in a social housing flat - and the provider has been stripped of its funding - the government over the weekend responded to comments about both private and public sector renting, made by a coroner.
A joint letter from Housing Secretary Michael Gove and Health Secretary Steve Barclay specified five areas of concern.
These were the need to update current guidance to social homes to include damp and mould, a review of the housing health and safety rating system, to improve the availability of health information, the need for housing associations to carry out repairs while tenant disputes were ongoing, and the need for private tenants to have access to an ombudsman scheme.
In the joint letter Gove says: “Awaab Ishak's death was a tragedy that should never have occurred. People across the country were horrified to hear about the terrible circumstances that led to it.
“Awaab's case has thrown into sharp relief the need for renewed action to ensure that every landlord in the country makes certain that their tenants are housed in decent homes, and they are treated with dignity and fairness."
He says the government is working on introducing time limits landlords must meet on investigating hazards, and creating a new private rental sector ombudsman service as part of wider private renting reforms.
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So the apathy of these housing associations towards their tenants and local housing stock ensures that private landlords once again get a bad rap. It’s outrageous!
What is the bet the guidance won’t include advising tenants to ventilate the property and keep humidity levels down
I see an avenue for tenants to take legal action against us 💰💰, watch out all…… we are in the firing line some more.
There is already an avenue. I have Nigerians in an EPC grade E single block house. They are normally cold in there. Don't open the windows. Don't go out (don't work and are on UC) and several kids. They report mould. They get the council involved and send a no-win no fee solicitor letter you would need to defend.
Having a bad tenant is a nightmare at the moment. Let alone all this rental reform nonsense coming in. Now this too.
I have seen a huge hike in mould and damp requests for tenants since this happened.
Firstly this was a terrible thing to happen to a child, can I ask WHY the parents didnt wipe away the mould, or move the child into another room which was safe? Or if it was me I would or slept in my car.
I am sorry to say this but that you can’t blame Landord’s for tenants not helping themselves ?
Tenant now do not open windows.
Leaving broken seals on shower screens and allow water to run onto the bathroom floor
Leave beds up against the walls in bedrooms and no air flow gaps.
Over crowd a house, not clean,
Refused To Put The Heating On Now, when asked why they say it’s too expensive
Patches of moisture on walls where COLD stones are on an external wall now are showing a patch. ( dot and dab)
Tenants HELP me TO HELP you!
Dryers are not been used now, they are washing by hand and leaving wet clothes to drop onto carpet floors in bedrooms . ( are people dragged up in the 21St Century)
Wet baskets of clothes on Floors in a bedroom? What is going on???
What about the government starting to fined tenants for damaging the landlords property?
Or that they refuse to help themselves, they spend more time a home, which is why these is major problems causes by what they are doing.
Why as an agents JOB to have to educate non uk tenants how to wash, clean, use w.c, use blinds, pull cords, bulbs, vacuum, how to turn on a shower, use an oven, mop a floor, open a door, ( yes using a key to open a door) requested as maintenance due to the security lock the handle comes all the way up, they couldn’t get into the house.
Our staff are getting very stressed with the way that we are spoken to and dictated too, abused by non uk residents and then bad reviews because we can’t let them view when they have no legal paperwork for renting a house in the Uk, as an estate agent of 26.5 years why don’t the government come to West Yorkshire and see how hard our lives have become in this industry.
How we are subjected to abuse and rude people hanging up the phone, struggling to understand English, Even now then amount of registered clients are 85% non British. In a week ?
How are they getting into the Uk?
Why is the government allowing this
Sorry I have crammed a lot in here
We live in a world now with no personal responsibility - everyone needs someone to blame.
Totally agree, the young lad's death was 100% the fault of his parents, why are they not being prosecuted for child neglect ?
My mould growing tenants don't do anything. All as per above. They don't wipe mould away. They just sit on their bottoms claiming UC. You're the landlord you sort it.
Here is the guidance:
1) Is there mould in the property?
2) If yes - it's all the landlord's fault. They must pay thousands to remediate it (as I have done).
3) Pay compensation to the tenant for costing the LL thousands.
4) Landlords should apologise to tenant.
5) Rent repayment order for 12 months.
6) Tenant is entitled to life long tenancy due mould ever being present at property.
Problem is tenants always call it "damp" and they are convinced it's somehow coming in through the walls. They don't accept its condensation caused by the people living in the house.
It's funny how 'mould' only appears in rental properties. Owner occupied properties never seem to have this problem.
Exactly. When it appears it is dealt with.
I received a call from a no win no fee solicitor last week asking if I had any damp or maintenance issues with my rented property, I told them my landlord was great and fixed any problems swiftly. They wished me a good day.
Did he come from Leicester by any chance, we might know him
He could be lying about the Leicester bit as well as the Landlord bit!
Are you in danger of losing your "imposter" instinct Andrew?
Happens to some when they get on a bit!
Now that's a point Robert, ''lying'', maybe I was wrong after all, he's a politician !
In the Levelling Up department?
For those unaware a very cost affective solution that I have used on several houses now to great effect is a PIV unit (positive input ventilation unit). Our older stock properties are not always suited to double glazing and other insulation type products turning them into completely sealed units allowing very low ventilation. Add tenants washing drying on radiators etc and you’ve got the perfect negative mix. The units cost about £300. I’d strongly recommend this as a first starting point.
We are now fitting them in more modern timber framed properties and they are proving invaluable. They are in huge demand and cost has gone up but a worthwhile investment. Big bonus is that they run all the time, cost very little to run and the controls are not accessible to most tenants = win win!
Vanessa Warwick of Property Tribes swears by them. I had mine done 12 months ago. No mould reported yet.
I agree. Fitted to all of mine about 10 years ago (which reminds me, I must do a filter change soon!)
Change the filters every 5 years or so. Good as gold and cost buttons to run - less than a tenner a year.
But they will not fix extreme problems, just the normal day to day stuff
I’m glad others are finding them as useful as I have. I had one property where after I fitted double glazing you could wipe condensation off the leather sofas!! It even sorted that.
I have only ever had 3 issues of mould from around 300 tenants in around 30 years.
One flat has had mould twice but the same flat has had about 20 other groups of tenants with no mould.
One holiday let had a lot of mould after a 5 week let - but has NEVER had any mould from countless other tenants.
All windows were tightly shut when we got these properties back.
Mould is much more likely to be caused by tenant lifestyle than property problems, but the potential health problems arising are the same.
QUESTION: Why does the Government and Councils not tackle the most common cause of mould (tenant behaviour) first if health concerns are the key concern? ANSWER - It's always easier to bash the landlord!
My response to any formal complaint about mould will be to commission an expert witness report. Most likely the problem will be a lifestyle/home management issue caused knowingly or otherwise by the tenant.
If the local authority get involved and I am not to blame, then my complaint goes in to the Local Authority Housing Ombudsman and a copy gets sent to my MP. Push back or get crushed!
Our stupid Government giving the Tenants the Bullets to fire again.
I have a mould issue in one of my 11 Properties, I have repeatedly told the Tenant to ventilate the Property, she tells me she does. However when I arrived at the Property at 9.00am all Windows were tightly shut. As with most modern windows they can be locked in a slightly open manner to allow ventilation.
The other issue is lack of heating, now as we all know it's the Landlords fault that Putin started this evil War, resulting in ridiculous energy costs. What will they find to blame us for next ?.
In leasehold properties any structural defects are usually the freeholders responsibility to repair. They will charge us for the repair as part of the service charge but in most cases they have to organise the repair. The wording of the lease usually prevents leaseholders from doing exterior repairs.
Obviously most mould is caused by lack of ventilation and heating but occasionally it is water ingress from faulty guttering, missing roof slates or pointing. Sometimes because a neighbouring property has put a raised flowerbed against the wall and breached the damp course. None of these things are the fault of or can be remedied by the landlord.
In the case of leasehold property there needs to be far greater provision to compel freeholders to address structural issues in a timely fashion.
Yet another example of the unintended consequences of the 12 year war on landlords. Back when I started, there was plenty of choice of rental properties. We all had to compete with each other which kept rents at a sensible level and we had to make sure that our houses were safe, comfortable, and generally a nice place to live in. If we didn't, tenants would up-sticks at end of tenancy and go to a nicer place down the road.
Now with the decline of availability, an increased tenant population, and resultant rent rises, the choices that tenants previously had are no longer there? Not sure how that is a better situation for tenants, but what do I know ...
PIVs have a an internal electric heater and run 24 X 7 and the electricity bill costs, relatively speaking, quite a lot! Further a west African soldier is suing the MOD because he couldn't cope with the cold, since being African, his resistance is lower !
Not all PIVs have heaters.
Hence my warning above about my Nigerians. They can't handle the cold so are more inclined to keep the windows shut.
Mine are non heated. Just gently blow the air from the loft (dry) into the house thus dissipating the moist air in the house. Cheap as chips to run. When I first installed them about £5 a year. Now about double that
Andrew, not sure where they were from, didn't sound particularly like a Leicester accent tho, I assume you're referring to leics landlord? I'm from Leicester myself, coincidentally.
The comment was tongue in cheek John
Nick, the proprietary ones do, they need a heater in them to work efficiently, l think about 0.6 kws. They need somewhere for the air to go, either an open window or drafts (leaks).
Andrew, yes I realise that it was a joke, no offence taken here. Leicester people have a good sense of humour, that's something I miss since moving to Bournemouth.
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