The Committee was provided with a report that updated them on the progress that had been delivered in relation to the Damp and Mould Action Plan implemented following the Housing Ombudsman report addressing the issue of damp and mould called “Spotlight on: Damp and mould”.

The Head of Housing Assets took Member through the report and gave a detailed outline of each section:

• A number of those actions for the Damp and Mould Action Plan had been implemented since the report was taken to Housing Services Cabinet Committee in March 2022 and the updates to the action plan could be found in Appendix 1
• A breakdown of the key actions that had been implemented were listed in section two of the report
• Section three outlined the creation of the Healthy Homes Task Force and its primary aim to discuss and identify ways that the Council could be more proactive as a landlord to deal with the rising cases of damp and mould
• Section four confirmed the Councils acknowledgment of the seriousness of damp and mould as a safety issue that had to be addressed in an appropriate and timely manner. In light of the increased responsibility, monitoring of the Council’s response to damp and mould had been transferred to the Building Safety team and the Compliance Dashboard which would be presented to Management Team quarterly and would be expanded to include data on damp and mould

Several suggestions were made by the Committee:

• Removing mould and damp safely was important for the health of the residents and to ensure tragedies such as the death of Awaab Ishak didn’t happen again however educating the public should also still be a priority. By providing education around how to prevent mould from forming, proper room ventilation and other general housekeeping matters there would be less houses suffering from mould and damp. A leaflet should be created which could be given to all Gravesham tenants informing them of the basics such as opening windows, proper room ventilation and not drying wet clothes inside their homes
• All Members should be made aware of the processes for reporting mould and damp as Members visited residents homes; additionally the partner approach should be widening so that external partners such as social workers, Police and KFRS could also report to the Council, properties where mould had appeared  

The Head of Housing Assets agreed that in the majority of cases mould and damp was caused by condensation within the property and could be prevented by the tenant; guidance leaflets were already available and given to tenants as well as hydrometer with a traffic light system. There were also videos on the Council website which educated the public on causes of mould and public engagement ideas similar to the one created for the Springvale Court, that informed people what they should expect during the mould and damp removal process. The Head of Housing Assets had previously liaised with the Head of Housing Options about tenant education in which initial home visits were conducted, discussions had with the tenants about early signs of mould and preventative measures. A new Resident Liaison Officer had also been recruited who would help with that education.

The Director (Housing) explained that there had been a significant shift towards mould and damp removal since the Rochdale tragedy; he had attended several house visits with the Damp and Mould surveyors to see the level of mould issues in the Borough. The Director (Housing) advised that the officers were very knowledgeable and educated the tenants while carrying out inspections of properties; some tenants had never managed their own properties before and needed the additional education. There would be a more focused approach around educating tenants in the coming months.

In response to a Members question concerning the rise of ‘no win, no fee’ solicitor cases, the Head of Housing Assets confirmed that a lot of organizations had been affected by those cases however mould and damp was not typically targeted due to the potential risk that it had been generated within the property by the tenant. There had been a national fall in disrepair cases being taken to court over the last couple of months. 

The Director (Housing) further added that there had been a change in case law where fees had been capped on the ‘no win, no fees’ cases and solicitors were no longer able to charge astronomical fees to their clients; prior to the change it was typical that 75% of the cost would go to the solicitors and 25% to the client. 

With regard to working with Members and external partners on reporting mould, ‘every visit counts’ would be rolled out to Members as part of the annual Members training plan and all contractors for the Council were aware of the reporting processes in place.

The Head of Housing Assets informed Members that the scale of known mould and damp cases in Gravesham was around 5/6 out of 10 and had much improved in recent years due to the improved reactiveness of the teams and the mechanisms in place to report mould in properties. When the team were aware of houses with a history of mould and had data from public health, visits would be carried out regularly.

Members noted the contents of the report, the current progress and assurances given in relation to the Council’s approach to managing damp and mould in the housing stock.