Budget cuts mean local councils are inspecting about just half of all reports of damp and mould they receive about the private rented sector (PRS), the Observer can reveal.
A recent government survey of more than 300 councils analysed by the Observer found that local authorities in England inspected 11,897 homes for serious damp and mould in 2021-22, the latest year for which data is available, despite receiving 23,727 complaints in total.
In the vast majority (87%) of cases where illegal and dangerous levels of damp and mould were identified – defined as category 1 or category 2 hazards – councils opted to follow an informal resolution.
Of the few instances where they took formal action, local authorities issued 1,539 improvement notices – legal orders that force landlords to make improvements – 105 fixed penalty notices and undertook just 27 prosecutions against landlords for serious damp and mould in homes in 2021-22.
And despite concerns about mould and damp growing since the mould-related death in 2020 of toddler Awaab Ishak, the number of fines issued and prosecutions pursued by councils dropped between 2020-21 and 2021-22, according to the data.
Nearly 85% of more than 300 English councils that featured in the data said a lack of funding and resources was the biggest or second biggest impediment to their ability to hold private landlords to account.
More than two-thirds also said that the housing health and safety rating system – the main legal framework used to maintain quality in the private rented sector – needed to be reformed, with at least once council suggesting it was “not fit for purpose”.
“Councils do everything they can to tackle bad practice and are taking action, as appropriate, to raise standards in the private rented sector,” said councillor Darren Rodwell, the housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA).
“However, many local enforcement teams do not currently have the resources and capacity to proactively tackle poor standards in the PRS due to the severe financial constraints facing councils.”
Cuts to central government funding have seen a 27% real-terms drop in core spending power for local councils since 2010 while demand for council services has skyrocketed, according to the LGA.
The new findings come just two weeks after the Royal College of Physicians warned of a growing number of deaths caused by damp and mould if the problem goes unaddressed by the government.
Earlier this month, the housing secretary, Michael Gove, announced a consultation on proposals for social landlords to investigate hazards within 14 days, start fixing problems within a further seven days and make emergency repairs within a day, but those new standards would not apply to the private rented sector.
The government summary on the mould and damp data found almost two-thirds of councils had five or fewer full-time staff working on housing standards and enforcement for private landlords.
The councils with the biggest and most proactive housing enforcement teams were those that had opted to implement a licensing scheme for private landlords.
“Enforcement budgets have been stretched to the limit,” said Roz Spencer, a director of housing charity Safer Renting.
“With existing resources, even the government’s Office for National Statistics reckons only 35% of private landlords are compliant with the law and just over one in five privately rented homes is ‘decent’.
“If councils are to add the long-term health risks [of damp and mould] on to a level playing field with the more immediate risks - which they should – they will need more money.
“Without it, they’ll be forced to choose between short-term threats – say, fire safety – on the one hand and damp and mould on the other. People die from both.”
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said it was strengthening councils’ enforcement powers through the renters’ reform bill, including by introducing a new standard for decent homes and increasing the size of compensation awards that can be awarded to tenants.
They also stressed that the government had recently announced an above-inflation funding settlement for councils that could help support further housing enforcement.
The spokesperson added: “We will fully fund any additional burdens the new system puts on councils. They will be able to ringfence the money raised through fines to fund this work in the long-term, ensuring that landlords are the ones to pay for enforcement.”
