ALL registered social housing landlords throughout Dumfries and Galloway will be urged to ensure that no tenants are being put at risk by damp or mouldy properties.
Councillors recently agreed that a letter should be sent to all registered social landlords, such as Wheatley Homes and Loreburn Housing Association, instructing them to bring all homes up to a damp-free living standard.
It comes following recent publicity about the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in Blackpool in December 2020. The toddler developed fatal health complications after prolonged exposure to mould in the house that his parents rented from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, a housing association.
At the recent Dumfries and Galloway full council meeting, North West Dumfries Councillor Emma Jordan tabled a motion demanding a housing safety shake-up, seconded by her colleague, Nith Councillor Keith Walters.
She said: “I’m sure that many of us have come across cases concerning mould and damp in RSL properties.
“Keith and I have been speaking to some of the RSLs and we’re already aware that they are doing a lot to deal with that.
“I think they’ve had an increase in cases since it was on the news about the two year old’s death.”
Councillor Walters added: “We recognise that although we are not directly responsible, a number of us as councillors have had this issued raised.
“It’s important that people in the community see that we are concerned about it.”
Following a tenant ballot, all council-owned homes were transferred to Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership (now Wheatley Homes South) in 2003.
However, the local authority still has a statutory duty to produce a local housing strategy that sets out policies, priorities, and plans for the delivery of housing services.
The council motion called for a review of housing conditions and a proactive approach which includes investigating all reports of mould/damp and identifying appropriate support for customers who struggle to pay heating bills.
The expectation is that all reports of mould should be inspected within 20 working days, and responding to repeat reports of mould should be completed within seven working days.
Council housing officer Jamie Little said: “The intention of the motion is to write to all registered social landlords. I could provide a list, but it’s quite extensive, from Wheatley Homes with over 10,500 properties down to some smaller registered social landlords with only a handful.
“It will include Wheatley Homes, Loreburn Housing, Cunninghame Housing, Home Group – the main registered social landlords with hundreds of properties, if not thousands.”
He added: “I’ve already engaged with a number of the registered social landlords around this issue. They are carrying out quite a bit of work – as you would expect them to have done after what was recently in the news.
“Wheatley Homes are putting in new processes and procedures in place to ensure a robust response, and Loreburn Housing Association on December 12 published additional information on their website to support their tenants.
“So, plenty of work is underway to try and manage this risk.”
The matter will be raised again at the council’s strategic housing partnership where housing chiefs will further discuss working with RSLs to address damp/mould issues.
