Damp and mould to be ‘key focus’ in consumer regulation, as RSH estimates 6% of stock affected

Going forward

The regulator said that it will expect all registered providers to make improvements to how they protect tenants from the potential harm that damp and mould can cause.

The RSH said that where providers either reported a high prevalence of serious damp and mould or supplied poor-quality information, it will now ask them to provide “further, specific assurance” that they are identifying and addressing damp and mould cases.

The regulator said that if it then identifies any providers that have not met its standards, it will take regulatory action in line with its usual processes, including publishing regulatory notices or regulatory judgements where appropriate.

The RSH said it will continue to carry out a further analysis of submissions and will engage directly with individual providers that have provided poor-quality information or reported a high prevalence of damp and mould.

It said this is to establish whether these social landlords are tackling the issue effectively.

The regulator said that it will introduce more active consumer regulation of social housing from April 2024. It added: “The quality of homes – including damp and mould – and repairs services will be a key focus and the evidence we have received will help inform our work.”

The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill is due to pass into its report stage and third reading on a date to be announced.

It aims to grant the RSH greater powers to protect residents, including plans for regular Ofsted-style inspections of housing associations’ stock and unlimited fines for poorly performing social landlords.

Last month, the regulator published its implementation plan for the new regulation, which includes recruiting additional staff.

Also in January, housing secretary Michael Gove said that he was aiming to add an amendment to the bill that could introduce deadlines for providers to act on damp and mould issues.

The RSH said: “Changes to legislation will enable us to do more active regulation of the quality of homes and services.

“We will look in more detail at how individual landlords are performing, and we expect providers to be asking themselves how they can improve – regulation should not be the only driver for change. For now, we are able to set out some initial findings from the evidence presented.”

Providers’ responses

The RSH said it found that most social landlords understand the extent of damp and mould in their tenants’ homes and take action to tackle it, but could strengthen their approach further.

Most providers’ responses showed that they are taking damp and mould seriously, identify and address cases of damp and mould in tenants’ homes and have made improvements in how they handle these cases over the past year.

The regulator said that it has seen strong responses from both local authority and private registered providers about tackling damp and mould successfully. It said these clearly explained their overall strategy and the processes they use to deal with individual cases.

The RSH said that common features of the best responses include comprehensive and regularly refreshed data on stock condition and types, repairs performance and hazards identified, case triaging, escalation routes and response time targets.

Identifying the root causes of damp and mould, reporting to and oversight from the board, and the use of specialist staff or contractors were also among the best responses.

Poorer responses relied more heavily on reactive approaches rather than proactively looking for evidence of damp and mould, and had weaker data and evidence about the condition of tenants’ homes.

The RSH said that providers with the best understanding of their homes are more likely to have provided accurate figures about damp and mould, while those that have a weaker understanding may have underestimated or overestimated the extent of these cases.

The regulator said its findings provide lessons for all social landlords, and “should prompt them to improve the way they identify and address damp and mould”.

It said that tenants who have damp and mould in their home should tell their landlord, and landlords should act promptly to address it and the underlying issue.

Fiona MacGregor, chief executive of the RSH, said: “Tenants deserve quality services and homes that are safe and of a decent standard.

“Where there are issues, landlords need to act now to put things right, before we start our active consumer regulation including inspections of providers.

“We expect all providers to continue to look at how they can improve the way they identify and address damp and mould.”

Update: at 4.34pm, 08.02.2023

The article and headline were updated following further clarification from the regulator regarding the percentages of homes affected. The article previously said that up to four per cent of homes could be affected – this has been amended to up to 6.2 per cent.