Damp and mould have been issues for tenants and landlords for decades but the tragic death of a two-year-old boy in Rochdale has sent them to the top of the agenda. WHQ reports on the inquest and the response across the UK housing sector.
‘I’m sure I’m not alone in having thought: how does this happen? How, in the UK in 2020, does a two-year-old child die from exposure to mould in his home? The tragic death of Awaab will, and should, be a defining moment for the housing sector in terms of increasing knowledge, increasing awareness and a deepening of understanding surrounding the issue of damp and mould.’
The inquest in November into the death of Awaab Ishak and the comments of senior coroner Joanne Kearsley shocked the country and sent damp and mould to the top of the list of concerns for tenants and landlords alike.
The inquest concluded with the coroner’s verdict that Awaab ‘died as a result of a severe respiratory condition caused due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home environment’. However, the inquest revealed a litany of failures in the run-up to the tragedy.
From the initial reaction by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) to his father’s report of mould (telling him to paint over it), to claims that ‘lifestyle issues’ and ‘ritual bathing’ were responsible for condensation, to IT failures that meant disrepair staff never saw a health visitor’s letter about the risks to Awaab’s health, the list is a long one.
New duties on landlords in England under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act did not seem to make much difference either, despite landlords having two years warning of them coming into effect for existing properties in March 2020. Indeed, they contributed to another failure thanks to RBH’s policy of not carrying out remedial works on properties subject to legal claims until they had agreement to the works from the tenants’ solicitor.
Awaab’s family’s flat was not an isolated case on the Freehold Estate in Rochdale. In Summer 2022, following local media reports about conditions on the estate and other children hospitalised, RBH inspected every home on the estate and found that 80 per cent had signs of damp and mould.
These were bad enough to constitute a Category One hazard in a small number of cases and a Category Two hazard in over a hundred. In a Regulatory Judgement published in December, the English Regulator of Social Housing found that RBH had breached the Home Standard and parts of the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard and that, as a consequence, there was actual and potential serious detriment to tenants.
After a visit to Rochdale, housing secretary Michael Gove announced that he would block government funding from any provider that breaches the regulator’s consumer standards until it could prove that it is a responsible landlord. RBH was the first to be sanctioned and its chief executive was removed from his post.
The Housing Ombudsman for England published a report in 2021 advising landlords to take a zero tolerance approach to damp and mould after examining 410 complaints about 142 landlords over a two-year period.
The report recognised the challenges for landlords in tackling the issues – including overcrowding, poverty and the age and design of homes – but said landlords should ‘avoid inferring blame on residents due to “lifestyle”, when it is often not solely their issue, and take responsibility for resolving problems’.
After the inquest, the ombudsman wrote to landlords reiterating these points and expressing concerns about ‘the way that some landlords handled complaints when a legal claim was also being made’.
Welsh Government wrote to all social landlords asking them to submit information about how they are responding to damp and mould issues by January 20. The letter asked them:
- Whether you have carried out a review of this nature in recent weeks and if not, why not.
- If you have carried out a review, what did the review tell you?
- If there are any damp and mould cases which are not being dealt with effectively, what is the scale of this and what are your plans for remediation?
- To explain the data you hold in relation to damp and mould, including the level of stock coverage and how often the data is scrutinised and refreshed.
- To explain the assurance the governing body has scrutinised to give them confidence the organisations’ systems and processes are the best they can be and do not discriminate in any way, to ensure damp and mould issues are dealt with promptly and effectively.