Season 5 episode 3 – May 2024

Damp and mould charter - podcast with Housing Ombudsman Service 

Victoria: Welcome to our Housing Ombudsman podcast, I am Victoria King, Sector Learning and Development Lead at the Housing Ombudsman Service. We are here to talk about damp and mould, and we will make reference today to our original Spotlight on Damp and Mould report released in Autumn 2021 and the subsequent follow up report released in February 2023.  

I am joined today by Zoe Miller one of our Insight & Systemic Managers here at the Housing Ombudsman, who wrote the Spotlight on Damp and Mould follow up report and Paul Millar our Policy and Parliamentary Lead.  

Zoe, would you like to introduce yourself and then Paul? 

Zoe: Intro 

Paul: Intro 

Victoria: On the podcast today we are going to be talking to Cllr Matthew McCabe Cabinet Member for the Built Environment, Housing and Sustainable Development Bath and North East Somerset Council (BANES) and Debbie Freeman at Bath & North East Somerset Council about the council’s Health and Housing Damp and Mould Project.  

The project is a collaboration between Housing Services and Public Health, developed in partnership with the providers of social housing in Bath & North East Somerset. 

Cllr Matthew McCabe, please could you introduce yourself and then Debbie? 

Cllr McCabe: I’m Councillor Matt McCabe, and as you say I’m Cabinet Member for Built Environment and Sustainable Development at Bath & North East Somerset Council. My portfolio includes housing services and one of our priorities is to improve people’s lives by focusing on healthy lives and places.

Debbie: I’m Debbie Freeman, I’m part of the Housing Enabling and Delivery Team, I deliver the Empty Property Service. I developed and managed the Health and Housing Damp and Mould project. 

Victoria: We are here to talk about your damp and mould charter, but this was just one part of the overarching damp and mould project, would you like to tell us about the project and the deliverables on the project? (LL forum is one and create a resource library, where RP’s send documents which are useful for other LL’s in the area.) 

The Damp and Mould Project followed on from work already done by the Housing Standards and Public Health Team which aimed to ensure private landlords are aware of their responsibilities and tenants of their rights in relation to damp and mould issues. We wanted to extend this work to include the providers of social housing and their tenants. 

The D&M project ran from April 2023 to March 2024 with the overarching aim of  creating consistency in the action being taken by Registered Providers in Bath & North East Somerset  when tackling mould and damp in their properties,  through supporting them to meet the Ombudsman’s 26 recommendations in the Spotlight report. So, this was about using the Ombudsman’s recommendations to support a consistent approach to damp and mould – and in this case, securing the engagement of our Registered Providers in implementing the recommendations.  

There are around 30 RPs operating in Bath & North East Somerset(including the cCouncil), collectively providing close to 12000 units of social housing. 77% of the stock is held by one provider, with the remaining stock spread over the rest.  

The majority of our providers own 1000 plus units nationally, so come under the Regulator of Social Housing and are obliged to provide evidence that they’re meeting the Decent Homes Standards. The providers not holding 1000 units, are effectively unregulated, suggesting there is a place for the Local Authority to encourage these providers to engage with the ombudsman’s recommendations and support sector wide culture change in preventing and dealing with damp and mould issues. The Local Authority has an important enforcement role and the project was designed to complement this through support and coordination.  

The project had three key deliverables: 

1. The development of a Landlords Conditions and Standards Forum 

Through prior consultation with RPs, it had become apparent that all bar one of the existing landlord forums were solely development focused, and that there was the need for a space for RPs to discuss housing conditions and public health concerns. 

The West of England Combined Authority are now exploring options for establishing a regional forum for landlords to discuss housing conditions and public health related concerns. Once established the Forum will be open to providers of social housing in Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. This will provide us with an excellent opportunity to identify public health housing needs and support preventative action and sharing of good practice.  

2. Compile a Damp & Mould Resource Library 

A collection of best practice examples and agreed recommendations to be housed on the Council’s public website alongside the Charter. RPs were invited to submit examples of their damp and mould staff training, tenant advice and policies and procedures. 

3. Create a Damp & Mould Charter 

Paul: What is the aim of the new Damp and Mould Charter? And why did you feel a charter was the right approach? 

The Charter supports the wider project’s aim of ensuring equity in the outcomes for tenants regardless of which provider they are housed with, and the prevention of a post code lottery regarding the level of risk to which tenants are exposed, and the support they receive. The Charter establishes a common standard of approach and set of principles for dealing with damp and mould, which all the RPs operating in Bath & North ast Somerset have been invited to sign up to.  

A Charter felt like the right approach as there are no financial implications for RPs or the council. Like the Ombudsman’s recommendations, there is no legal obligation to engage but there is a central assumption that all partners want to ensure good outcomes for tenants, and signing the Charter demonstrates this. The whole project in fact was a massive piece of partnership working which involved getting partners on board without any type of incentive (over and above doing the right thing) or threat of enforcement. The Charter has been really positive, but we acknowledge it is only part of the solution.  As such the Council continues to take enforcement action against landlords, both private and social, where there are damp and mould hazards that are not been rectified in a reasonable time period.     

Zoe: How did you identify which partners you needed to work with? How did you work with them? 

I obtained the list of RPs in Bath & North East Somerset  from the 2021-22 statistical data return and contacted them at Chief Executive level with the project proposal -  inviting them to nominate someone from their organisation to engage with the project. Nominees ranged from heads of customer services to Chief Executives..  

The pre-existing housing forum I identified while establishing the need for a high level, regional, dedicated standards and conditions forum was very useful. The chair agreed I could have a standing agenda item for the lifespan of the project, so I sent out invites to all the RPs to join the attendance list and used these slots to pull together the Task and Finish Group and provide project updates and so on. 

Victoria: The charter establishes a set of five principles that landlords will use to inform their approach to damp and mould in their housing stock. What are these five principles and why did you choose them?  

Damp and Mould Charter Principles:

The five principles are based on the 26 recommendations in the Spotlight report. Using the headings the report provided, I condensed the recommendations into a summary of the culture change needed in working practice. 

Foster a zero tolerance culture to damp and mould 

1. This means ensuring that damp and mould prevention and intervention is prioritised through implementing or developing a dedicated damp and mould strategy or policy. These would set out how damp and mould issues will be identified and monitored, how staff will be trained on dealing quickly, empathically and knowledgeably with reports of damp and mould, and the range of interventions that can be used. 

 Move from a reactive to a proactive approach  

2. To move from taking a reactive approach to dealing with reports of damp and mould, to a proactive one which actively invites reports and feedback and provides a quick, efficient process for resolving issues that is also open, transparent, and accessible to all residents. 

 Take responsibility  

3. To build on the principle of taking a proactive approach by ensuring we fully accept our responsibilities as landlords, seeking always to explore how we can prevent, detect, and address issues. We will not infer blame on tenant lifestyle, but instead will take steps to know, listen to and work with tenants, ensuring communication and advice around damp and mould is accurate, appropriate, and fair. 

Focus on the fabric of the property

4. In the investigation of damp and mould reports, we will shift emphasis away from occupational factors like cooking practices, toward the fabric of the property itself, including affordable warmth options for the tenants. We will invest in proactive measures to identify inherent or structural factors that lead homes to be more susceptible to damp and mould. 

Legal and statutory compliance  

5. Ensure knowledge of and compliance with all legal and regulatory duties including but not limited to those set out in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (as amended by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023).

Victoria: You talk about sharing best practice and engaging in discussions about how you can deliver on the Ombudsman’s recommendations. How are you working with those who have signed up to the charter to do this? What benefits are you seeing of doing this? 

The creation of the regional housing-conditions focused landlord forum, that I have mentioned will facilitate discussion and the opportunity for peer-to-peer support and collaboration. And the Damp and Mould Resource library will enable sharing of best practice examples and more general resources to support RPs work on damp and mould. 

 A  limitation of the project is that we only have capacity to monitor outcomes through proxy indicators of engagement; so by monitoring how many RPs sign up to the charter, how many engage with the regional forum, and whether it becomes an effective forum for supporting action on damp and mould.   

It's worth highlighting that we also engage with residents and other professionals to help prevent and reduce damp and mould in homes. For example, Housing and Public Health have delivered a number of webinars to professionals that have contact with residents whose homes may be at risk of damp and mould to ensure they have up to date information how damp and mould can affect residents health and wellbeing and on the support that residents can access to keep their homes warm – so that they can then pass this knowledge onto residents and refer them to community support where needed. So, although the work with RPs is important, a broad approach is be taken to prevent and tackle damp and mould issues.  

Zoe: We released our Spotlight on Damp and Mould follow up report in February 2023. Was there anything in the report that surprised you? 

The notable proportion of landlords that you found who were unaware of the report’s publication surprised me. It appeared to be incredibly well publicised to me. 

At first the landlord response figures published in the Follow Up Report seemed perhaps lower that I would expect. and I wondered if this would be mirrored by the uptake of the charter,   

However, 29 invitations to sign were sent out in March and to date, there are already 15 signatories and hopefully this number will increase as there’s no deadline for signing up. 

Zoe: Why should providers of social housing in Bath& North East Somerset to sign up to the charter? And how can they sign up? 

I like to believe that everyone working in housing provision wants to achieve  the best outcomes for tenants that we possibly can. 

The charter is a public acknowledgement that industry wide culture change regarding damp and mould is needed, and a commitment to revising and improving existing approaches to reflect this. 

In March, an ‘invitation to sign’ email was sent by the council’s Director of Sustainable Communities with an online form that populates the charter. I sent a follow up reminder in April, and providers can follow the link in the email to sign up at any time – there is no deadline or cut off.  

Paul: What have you learned through the process of establishing the Damp and Mould charter? Have there been any barriers/challenges along the way? 

I would recommend housing colleagues who are involved in standards and conditions, find out who their Council Consultant in Public Health lead is for wider determinants and to link with them to undertake joint work on housing and health. There are opportunities for joint preventative and proactive work by making this link which is so important. 

There was also no budget, so engagement was entirely based on goodwill and persistence. 

Ascertaining the best person to contact with the right level of seniority, then getting their contact details and engaging them is key. We did not have a complete or up-to-date contact list of our RPs.   

While the majority of RPs engaged fully with the project, others wanted to participate to varying degrees or not at all. Reasons varied - there were a couple I received no response from, another chose not to engage with the project as they provide extra care housing, so units are entered daily by staff meaning issues with damp and mould were identified and delt with before becoming a problem, others were in the process of disposing of their units in Bath & North EastSomerswet so felt it wasn’t appropriate.  

The charter could feel like an admission of organisational failing, so reassurance was needed in some cases that this work is about supporting good practice rather than penalising providers. 

Paul: What advice do you have for those who are thinking about setting up something similar in their area?  

As I’ve said, obtaining the contact details of the right officers to get round the table was surprisingly challenging and may take longer than expected so allow time for this at the beginning. 

It’s important that you get buy in from people with the right level of seniority in order to get the charter signed.  

Engagement with these projects is based on goodwill and dependant on landlords seeing the value in partnership working. Collaboration is key, so set up a task and finish group with willing RP representatives as early in the project as possible. I was able to do this and it meant that everything was done in collaboration with RP partners and that the ask was proportionate. 

Victoria: Debbie and Cllr McCabe thank you so much for your time to discuss the project and charter. If you would like to find out more about the charter, it is available via the Bath and North East Somerset Council website, the link to which we will add in the show notes.  Damp and mould charter | Bath and North East Somerset Council (bathnes.gov.uk)