On 28th June 2023, the Regulator of Social Housing published a report on damp and mould in social housing stock. The paper was created in response to the Coroner’s report on the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in Rochdale, in which damp and mould present in the toddler’s home was found to have contributed to his death.
When renting a property, tenants have certain rights that are protected by law. One of these rights is the right to live in a safe and well-maintained home. However, sometimes landlords fail to maintain their properties, leading to disrepair and potentially hazardous living conditions for tenants. In such cases, tenants have two options: they can make a housing disrepair claim and/or file a complaint with the Housing Ombudsman, after the landlord’s internal complaints process has been exhausted.
Mrs Tuner, who lives in the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, brought a claim against their social housing landlord Southern Housing at the start of July 2022.
James Pearce’s’ Tip for clients who don’t report disrepair before claim for housing disrepair.
RSH confirmed that the council breached health and safety requirements. It had failed to complete a significant number of remedial fire safety actions, including 4,000 that were high risk. In addition, it did not have up-to-date electrical safety reports for thousands of homes.
Mould and damp growing, exterior doors that don’t lock, electric wiring exposed, rat droppings everywhere and toilet bowl encrusted with faeces are some of the issues which this mother of three has to deal every day.
Social housing landlords will have to investigate and fix damp and mould in their properties within strict new time limits, Housing Secretary Michael Gove announced Thursday 9 February.
As the Social Housing Regulation (SHR) Bill 2022-23 approaches its final report stage in the House of Commons our Housing Disrepair Solicitors thought it would be useful to set out why this Bill is so important and how it will improve the rights of tenants.
Since the conditions in which Awaab Ishak lived were made public and after the publication of the health problems that he suffered which led to his death, the Government and The Housing Ombudsman announced new regulations to monitor the quality and conditions of homes owned by local councils and housing associations.
