Awaab Ishak, two, died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in the one-bedroom housing association flat where he lived with parents Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Aminin in Rochdale, Greater Manchester (Family handout/PA)
The father of a two-year-old who died after exposure to mould at his housing association flat has voiced his support for proposals to bring in a strict timeframe for landlords to fix problems.
The new requirements are part of a consultation on measures under legislation named after Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Those landlords who fail to meet proposed new legal requirements could end up in court under the proposals which have gone out for consultation from Tuesday.
Awaab’s father has insisted landlords must listen to tenants’ concerns and said he hopes legislation in his son’s name can prevent other families facing their painful experience.
Faisal Abdullah said: “We hope that Awaab’s Law will stop any other family going through the pain that we went through.
“Landlords need to listen to the concerns of tenants and we support these proposals.”
Today is about stronger and more robust action against social landlords who have refused to take their basic responsibilities seriously for far too long
Housing Secretary Michael Gove
Requirements under the new legislation would require social landlords to investigate hazards within 14 days, start fixing within a further seven days, and make emergency repairs within 24 hours.
The consultation proposes that landlords who fail to act on issues within the timeframe can be taken to court where they might be ordered to pay compensation for tenants.
The department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said that under the new measures, landlords would be expected to keep clear records to improve transparency for tenants, in order to avoid “dither and delay to rectify people’s homes”.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: “Today is about stronger and more robust action against social landlords who have refused to take their basic responsibilities seriously for far too long.
“We will force them to fix their homes within strict new time limits and take immediate action to tackle dangerous damp and mould to help prevent future tragedies.”
Running throughout these cases is evidence of delay, poor communication and ineffective action
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway
The department said the consultation is the latest step in addressing “systemic issues” identified in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, including how tenants are treated by their landlords as well as the general safety and quality of social housing.
The consultation was launched just as the UK’s largest housing association was separately ordered to pay thousands in compensation after failing to deal promptly with residents’ complaints on damp, mould and leaks.
In its latest report, the Housing Ombudsman made a finding of severe maladministration in three separate cases involving Clarion Housing.
The housing association apologised to residents for its “shortcomings” as it was ordered to pay £10,800 to the affected households in London and Kent.
The ombudsman said there had been “delay, poor communication and ineffective action” from the housing group, with residents in each case having had to go to “extraordinary lengths for the landlord to take action, which should not have been necessary”.
One case saw a failure to rectify leaks reported by a west London resident over a period of five years which the ombudsman said had caused her “a high level of distress and inconvenience”.
Clarion failed to act quickly when a tenant in Wimbledon complained of damp and mould in both bedrooms, with her children having to move into the living room to escape the mould, the ombudsman said.
The landlord’s responses had often lacked empathy and put the onus on the resident changing her lifestyle, it added.
A case in Sevenoaks saw damp and mould issues cause a resident and her family “significant distress” with a bedroom becoming unusable and medical evidence suggesting the housing situation had possibly exacerbated her children’s medical conditions.
Clarion apologised for all three cases and said it had developed a new damp and mould strategy with every member of staff undertaking specialised training in this area.
The housing association said: “We apologise sincerely to the residents in all three of these cases for the shortcomings in the service we have provided to them.”
It acknowledged that “ultimately, it took too long to resolve the problem (in the damp and mould cases)”, and said it was “not acceptable to blame lifestyle – that is, normal household activities – as the cause of damp and mould”.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “In these cases, residents had to go to extraordinary lengths for the landlord to take action, which should not have been necessary.
“There is also evidence of the landlord failing to join the dots or having similar points of failure, especially in the cases where there were multiple related complaints from the same block.
“Running throughout these cases is evidence of delay, poor communication and ineffective action.”
He said complaints about leaks, damp and mould have “increased significantly in the past year and these cases show where landlords can make decisive changes to improve its service for residents”.
He urged landlords to “take any reports of leaks and damp seriously, take responsive action and ensure residents feel they are being treated with respect and empathy” especially in the wake of recent wet weather and storms.
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