Shadowing the damp and mould taskforce from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

The issue has been going on for years, but after the death of the toddler Awaab Ishak, mould in rented homes was thrust into the national spotlight. The two-year-old died in 2020 after being exposed to hazardous mould in his rented home.

That home was owned and let by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing – who were criticised for their failure to deal with it, and still provide housing for thousands of residents in the region, having taken control of Rochdale council’s stock in 2012.

Since Awaab’s inquest, despite RBH shelling out millions of pounds on their damp and mould taskforce, there are still cases with a wide range of severity cropping up. With that in mind, the Local Democracy Reporting Service joined one of RBH’s taskforce managers as he conducted callouts, to see if the social housing provider had learned from past mistakes.

We met up with disrepair manager Adam Wallworth, who was starting his callouts at the home of an elderly lady in the Balderstone area. The bungalow was one of many owned by RBH in the cul-de-sac and Adam started off by introducing himself to the resident and her daughter with a quick flash of his ID card, before requesting to see the reported problems.

After inspecting the two damp spots in question, Adam quizzed the residents regarding the frequency of damp, if there are historic damp issues, whether repair works have recently been undertaken and, lastly, if they have been impacted by the cost of living crisis. The idea behind this line of questioning is that he will be able to ascertain where the problems are, where potential issues could arise and the background as to why they are happening.

In this property, the cases Adam surveys he deems to be in their early stages and not requiring lots of work to resolve. However, Adam isn’t done, as he whips out a piece of technology that allows him to assess the humidity and pollution in the air and then check for cold spots within the house’s infrastructure.

After warning the pair of potential spots where they are losing heat and best practice for eradicating mould, he waves goodbye. He then notices a crack in the brickwork outside that he thinks could be linked to the problem. The report resulting from his visit will be passed onto RBH colleagues to carry out the appropriate work.

Adam, who has been dealing with damp and mould cases for years, claims that the majority of cases are a result of poor property management – whether the resident intends it or not. For this reason, his personal philosophy is about education and helping customers understand how to better prevent and treat mould problems.

“When you have a shower and the steam rises up, the heat escapes through windows and walls, but the moisture gets trapped,” he tells the LDRS. “That is why you get a build up of moisture which leads to damp, and then mould.

“Vinegar and bicarbonate soda are being used a lot (to treat mould) as it provides that acidity to get rid of it. However, I recommend HG Mould Spray… best on the market – kills the mould at its root.”

He adds that a lot of bleach cleaners ‘only sterilise mould’ and do not actually kill it at its root.

Moving onto the second property in the Belfield estate, Adam repeats the process of assessing the problems and quizzing the residents about their home. Much like the first callout, the level of damp and mould is in its early stages and should quickly be resolved, he feels.

After getting all the information, he will report back to the appropriate RBH team who will take action in due course.

 

 

Speaking candidly about the issues within housing associations and their stock currently, Adam says it is older properties where most of the damp and mould problems are found as structural issues present themselves. Over the years he has encountered frustration from tenants who feel their properties are being neglected as new ones are being built next door. RBH has now put a freeze on building new properties, which Adam welcomes because he thinks the older ones should be brought up to scratch first.

“Old stock within all housing associations (HAs) has taken a large hit,” he says. “When I worked at other HAs, people would get aggrieved by new homes being built next door.

“The best thing for RBH is the freeze on house building. Nothing is more imperative than providing current customers a warm, happy and healthy home.”

Referring to complaints from tenants who feel their complaints of damp and mould have gone unheard, he admits communication has needed to improve – but thinks significant progress has been made in recent months.

“With contractors, the biggest education we need for operatives is breakdown in notes and information. Passing information on is big,” he says.

“It’s not just RBH, there are issues with software. I might use First Touch which is a houseware system and it doesn’t operate with another bit of software, RBH needs to work on that.”

Speaking about RBH’s investment of £45m into a mould and damp taskforce by RBH, Adam adds: “It’s a really good sign that they’ve put taskforces in certain areas. We have people analysing where we get the most calls from.

“The teams are now actively door knocking, so there has been a massive shift. There are more people on the ground and getting in contact with customers, so the work is getting done.

“We need to be like the age-old thing with the local copper on the corner that people know. So people know us and we’re spotted in the area.”

He goes on to describe how maintaining a property is important for preventing damp and mould. He also explains that things like extractor fans, opening windows (when it’s not raining) and putting the heating on can help reduce problems with damp.

In the last callout of the day, Adam finds poor property maintenance to be the cause of the problems, with dangerously high humidity levels of 80 per cent in some rooms (healthy levels are between 30 to 60 per cent). This is due to keeping windows shut, extractor fans off and drying wet clothing without the heating on, he believes.

Upon entering the property, fresh coats of paint are running down the wall in the humidity, which is no surprise to the RBH manager, he is surprised only that the issue isn’t more widespread.

Adam advises the occupant on how to keep the property ventilated and safe and will later report back any issues that need addressing by contractors or members of the team.

Before we parted ways, Adam tells us that he has learned many of their disgruntled customers have originally complained to the council, rather than RBH, but then not followed up their complaints – which has led to a backlog of issues to be dealt with that get worse as time goes on. He feels this is all the more reason to have more RBH workers on the ground to help their tenants better understand who to go to with complaints or issues.

This mindset is a change from a few years back when Awaab’s family found themselves blamed for the damp and mould problem. This happened even though RBH had a backlog of hundreds of complaints about the issue at its properties.

Even two years on from Awaab’s death, other families on the same estate as well as other areas of the town who had similar experiences as Awaab’s family with RBH. More cases have even cropped up in the last few months warning of the same issues, with a slow or non-existent response from the social housing provider being a complaint.

 

 

Siobhan McCoy, RBH director of property services, said: “We are working to ensure all our customers live in a home that is safe, warm, and dry. Our damp and mould taskforce is part of a wider improvement of our services to make sure that we provide those safe homes that meet the needs of our customers.

“When a customer reports damp and mould, our first step is treating the mould and making sure their home is free from defects which could cause problems, and is properly ventilated and heated.

“The age and type of our homes across Rochdale mean that we, like other landlords, have a continuing task to deliver the investment needed to address all underlying defects. We are investing an additional £45m, on top of our ongoing investment programme, to address these issues.

“We have also received a grant from the Social Housing Quality Fund to support this work. Our damp and mould taskforce responds quickly where damp and mould is reported to us or where we identify it through other ways.

“We aim to inspect the issue promptly and then treat and resolve the root causes as quickly as possible. We also provide advice and support to our customers to help them understand other factors which can contribute to damp and mould, where this is appropriate.

“We are clear that addressing any issues with the property is our responsibility as a landlord. Many of our homes in the borough of Rochdale are in areas which are amongst the most deprived in the country, so some of our customers have additional needs or vulnerabilities.

“Whilst we are making progress in improving our services and the quality of our homes, we will still have vulnerable residents who need wider support from other agencies to live safe and healthy lives.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter