Damp and mould persist across housing tenures – government data
2 months ago | 1 comments
Left-wing Labour member wants mandatory PRS damp and mould inspections
8:59 AM, 15th September 2026, 1 day ago
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Private rented sector homes should have regular damp and mould inspections with certificates uploaded to the PRS Database, claims a Labour member.
Founder of Fairer Housing CIC and Labour party member Jacky Peacock has called on the government to introduce a legal requirement for landlords to arrange regular inspections of private rented homes for damp and mould.
Writing in LabourList, Ms Peacock argues that inspections should be carried out by professionals trained in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), with certificates uploaded to the new Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database.
The call comes as the government prepares to begin a regional rollout of the PRS Database in December. Landlords will be required to pay an annual registration fee of £65 per property.
Current enforcement of PRS conditions is reactive
Ms Peacock claims some tenants live in poor conditions in the PRS and research by the New Economics Foundation reveals renters across England are grappling with a postcode lottery when asking councils to deal with substandard housing.
Ms Peacock writes in Labourlist: “Current enforcement of PRS conditions is reactive, relying mainly on tenants having to endure poor conditions, which frequently make them ill, before complaining to their local council which many are reluctant to do, even if they know this is an option available to them, which most do not.
“It is also very resource intensive, and grossly under-resourced, with an average of only 2.2 Council enforcement officers for every 10,000 private rented homes.
Damp and mould inspections
All landlords will be required to register their properties on the PRS Database, including information about their properties such as copies of electrical and gas safety certificates.
However, Ms Peacock says this should also include regular damp and mould inspections.
She said: “Landlords are currently required to evidence some health and safety elements, including gas and electrical checks, energy performance etc., which could easily be uploaded onto the new database.
“However, there are no requirements to check for damp and mould, or the other 20 hazards identified under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), used by local authorities when they inspect sub-standard homes.
“This could be remedied by introducing a legal requirement for landlords to arrange for their properties to be inspected by a professional trained in the HHSRS. Any hazards found would have to be remedied before a ‘Decent Home Certificate’ could be uploaded to the database as a pre-condition for letting.”
She claimed the £65 annual registration fee per property could help fund local council enforcement work.
She said: “This change would represent an achievable enforcement role for local councils within existing resources and could be fully funded by the database registration fees that will be charged to landlords.
“Homes that are fit and decent make it easier to maintain family relationships, for children to do better at school and adults more likely to be able to work.”
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Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 3320 - Articles: 82
10:01 AM, 15th September 2026, About 1 day ago
Course we can. Who’s paying?
No, who’s really paying for these £150 £13pm on top of the rent checks?
Along with everything else.
Can a tenant not spot mould?
What about checks to see if the tap is dripping?
Or the light enough lumens?
Any welfare & advice checks for the tenants? Oh, we’ll sort that too then.
Tenants have got enough with the below, I’ll add this £150 pa to the list too then.
Dear Tenants,
Govt has just bought in yet another charge £65 per year EACH house for property database fee. So you got to have rent increase for that £6pm.
All this information needed for the property database, the Council already have for your Selective Licensing, who already charge £1000 every 5 years, so £200 per year, so you got £20 pm rent increase for that.
Previously we could just agree between ourselves if rents were £1000 & you were paying £750, you could agree verbally to £775 or £800. Well Govt has put a stop to that costing you again. Govt has said all rent increases must be done by Section 13. Letting agents cost £75 to do this, so that’s another £7pm.
So before we even get a little rent increase to pay for all inflationary increased costs, you’ve got £33pm which is going straight on the Govt charges.
This is without the extra admin we’ve got 4am office starts 9pm finishes. So no longer small rent increases I’m afraid, we got minimum £83pm before we start.
I could go on & on if some Media outlet would finally tell the truth & put it all out there, cause tenants that had no problem (80%) are really hit hard by all these Govt & Council changes.
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 763
11:57 AM, 15th September 2026, About 23 hours ago
More evidence of antipathy towards private sector LLs? To avoid discrimination, would such a proposal include the social sector too? After all, that’s where Awaab’s law originated.
If such a measure was introduced and was mandatory as gas safety checks are, would the ‘checking’ staff be able to report mould which was clearly down to tenant lefstyle? It might even change the narrative a bit. If implemented properly, the proposal could even deliver positive outcomes for the PRS.
Member Since February 2024 - Comments: 95
2:20 PM, 15th September 2026, About 20 hours ago
OK,,, in my experience many, many council and social housing properties have chronic damp and mould too, which until a new law came in were totally ignored.
And what about the poor souls who had government recommended cladding stuck on their houses and now many are totally unfit to live in because of the incoming damp???
Many of these people have no choice but to put up with these abismal conditions because either they won’t be accepted in the PRS due to their credit records or they simply are too poor to move on.
And what about people living in flats and appartments with unsafe, possibly murderous cladding because government and government institutions didn’t do their job properly??
Perhaps Madam should stop throwing stones at PRS when she’s living in a huge, very transparent greenhouse!
Perhaps she just needed to make her mouth go to get some cheap attention!!?
Member Since October 2019 - Comments: 437
3:02 PM, 15th September 2026, About 20 hours ago
A homeless tenant would suffer a lot worse then a bit damp after a LL packs in due to no money left in the pot because of fees/fines/maintenance/legals!