Tackling damp and mould in council homes
The council takes the issue of damp and mould in its council homes very seriously.
Following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale, the council’s leader Cllr Peray Ahmet issued a joint statement on damp and mould assessment with Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning on 1 December 2022. The statement set out the actions the council was taking to assess and address serious cases of damp and mould.
Along with all other councils, we were contacted by the Housing Regulator as a result of Awaab Ishak’s case, on 1 November 2022. We were asked to provide an assessment of the most serious cases of damp and mould in our properties.
On 19 December 2022, we provided an initial estimate of our most serious cases in response to the Housing Regulator. Based on the information we had at the time, we reported an estimated 64 ‘category 1’ cases, although we explained that problems with gaining access to these properties meant we couldn’t verify this figure.
We provided a more accurate assessment in March 2023, in response to a follow-up request for information from the Regulator. This confirmed the number of ‘category 1’ cases to be nearer 10 and set out further actions we are taking. These include:
- setting up a new process for managing damp and mould cases
- a dedicated email address to make it easy for tenants and leaseholders to report damp and mould problems
You can read more detail in the chief executive's letter to the Housing Regulator.
Read more about our Service Improvement Plan for Housing (PDF, 28MB) (from page 203).