Why so many UK homes still have a mould problem

Kyle (not his real name) had been living with his pregnant wife and two children in his three-bedroom house in Greater Manchester for a few weeks when he first noticed mold in his bedroom.

He deleted it, but when he quickly came back he realized something was seriously wrong.

“It spread into the bedrooms and all over the walls,” he recalls. “The plugs were exploding because water got into them.”

Clothes, toys, bedding and televisions had to be thrown away.

Kyle remembers sleeping on the family living room floor even after his wife returned from the hospital after giving birth with their newborn.

The homeowner claims that he painted over the mold but failed to fix the underlying problem.

Kyle, an administrative worker, and his family rented the property on the private market but moved out seven months later and are now living in temporary accommodation.

“It was a nightmare. I didn’t know what to do; I just felt like crying most of the time.”

Damp and mold problems are quite common in Britain. According to government figures released earlier this year, a total of 1.3 million homes in England (5% of the total) had a damp problem in one or more rooms in 2023-2024.

More than a million children lived in damp homes.

This is despite widespread public shock following the death of Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy from Rochdale, in 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould.

Awaab’s father, Faisal Abdullah, had repeatedly raised the issue of the flat at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH). “They don’t do anything for you; it’s really devastating,” he says.

“How is a two-year-old child dying in the UK from mold in his home in 2020?” asked coroner Joanne Kearsley at the inquest.

More importantly, he asked the government to take action to prevent future deaths.

Now, five years after Awaab’s death, the Coroner’s question raises another question.

So: why does mold continue to be a nuisance in so many homes, even though we’ve seen its devastating consequences for a two-year-old child? So is enough being done in the UK to change this?

The new law, designed to protect tenants from hazards in their homes, was passed in July 2023 and is expected to come into force this month. It is known as the law of Awaab.

From October 27, social landlords in England will have to remove damp and mold within strict timescales. Hazards such as moisture and mold must be checked within 10 working days and secured within 5 working days after the check.

More serious issues such as gas leaks, faulty boilers or damp or mold affecting the tenant’s health will need to be addressed within 24 hours.

Social hosts will have to offer alternative accommodation if they cannot meet these deadlines. And if they fail, tenants can take legal action for breach of contract. They can also make a claim through the complaints procedure.

But for now, the law only applies to the social rented sector (such as council housing or homes rented from housing associations) and not the 4.6 million households in England that rent privately, like Kyle and his family.

Although the government has said this will be extended to the private rental sector, it has not yet set a date.

While some have welcomed the Awaab law, other campaigners question how effective it will actually be, given the limitations.

Hannah works as a respiratory nurse in the North East of England; Their patients have asthma flares, chest infections, and other respiratory problems that lead to hospitalization. According to him, cases of asthma linked to moldy homes are all too familiar.

“I work in highly deprived areas and see a lot of patients whose symptoms are worsened by dampness and mold in their homes, or even have symptoms,” he says.

“We see the results every day”

People who live with mold are actually more likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses, infections, allergies, and asthma.

NHS England spends an estimated £1.4 billion each year treating illnesses caused by living in cold or damp housing, according to a 2021 report by construction research organization BRE.

The figures also confirm that this is a problem that disproportionately affects the less affluent: of the one million children living in damp properties, almost half (482,000) had a relatively low income.

Retirees were also affected; approximately 324,000 people were 65 or older.

And Awaab Ishak’s death is a stark reminder of what is at stake.

Throughout his short life, Awaab constantly suffered from colds and respiratory problems. Following shortness of breath, he had a respiratory and heart attack and died in December 2020.

He was only two years old.

Christian Weaver, the lawyer who represented Awaab Ishak’s family during the investigation, called the case “eye-opening,” especially when he heard how persistently the family tried to get help.

“They had been complaining for years, an NHS health visitor had written to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing and someone from the landlord’s own team even visited the property – but nothing was done.”

Manchester North’s senior coroner said the ventilation in the one-bedroom flat where he lived was not effective.

“This was a factor that directly contributed to the development of the mould,” Ms Kearsley said.

In response, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing says: “The most important thing for us is that our customers live in safe, warm and comfortable homes.

”Over the last 18 months our teams have worked hard to ensure we are ready for the Awaab Act to come into force and we have reviewed and improved all our business processes and practices.

“We continue to encourage all of our customers to notify us of any potential issues with damp, mold or condensation in their home as soon as possible so we can take swift action to investigate and resolve the issues.”

RBH also said it “already plans to expand the scope of the Awaab Law beyond mold and damp in the next two years.”

Mold will only grow when given moisture, nutrients and warmth; so there are some things renters can do to help stop or slow the spread.

Riina Rautemaa-Richardson, an infectious fungal disease expert at the University of Manchester, explains that, for example, there should be no clothes inside, windows should be open and the temperature should not be too high.

But he says poor ventilation can also be caused by structural problems such as roof leaks or poor drainage, and homeowners have a responsibility to address these root causes.

Many experts believe that tackling the problem also requires something bigger; that is, addressing the underlying problems of the country’s housing stock.

“Damp and mold incidents have been prevalent nationally for many years,” says building pathologist Michael Parrett.

He believes the fundamental problem is “misdiagnosis and, at worst, misunderstanding of damp in buildings”.

Housing Minister Steve Reed believes new legislative changes passed while the previous Conservative government was in office will help.

“[It] “It will give tenants a stronger say and force landlords to act urgently when lives are at risk, ensuring tragedies like this are never repeated again.”

But some housing campaigners want tighter commitments on when the Awaab Bill will cover the private sector.

“We have heard nothing from the government about when this legislation will apply to private tenants,” says Tom Darling, director of the Tenants Reform Coalition.

“This needs to happen urgently and the protections must be watertight.”

The government is expected to determine soon how this law will apply to the private rented sector; the government says they want to make this “fair, proportionate and effective for both tenants and landlords”.

They will also need to decide whether small private landlords can be expected to react as quickly as large social landlords.

But some official figures suggest it is private rented tenants who need the most protection.

These homes are less likely to meet a “decent standard” than socially owned homes, according to the British Housing Survey.

In 2023, 3.8 million houses could not meet this standard. Privately rented housing was most likely to be classified as unsuitable; 21% of them were.

However, people who rent part of their property from a social landlord under a shared ownership scheme will not be protected.

Still, some welcome the new law as a step in the right direction.

Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway says the Awaab Act is “a vital way to improve housing conditions and strengthen residents’ rights”.

The changes will be phased in, along with rules regarding other hazards such as structural and electrical issues. But some warn that all this could put homeowners in charge rather than addressing the root causes of the nation’s housing stock.

“What it will do is put landlords under extreme pressure,” says Michael Parrett. “They’re already stretched. I think in some cases it’s going to set the hosts up for failure.”

The fact that municipalities and housing associations have to make repairs with such rapid returns will have a knock-on effect on the budgets of municipalities, some of which are already on the verge of bankruptcy.

Major Tom Hunt of the Local Government Association argued: “Councils need adequate funding to ease current pressures on housing stock so they can introduce these new measures quickly.”

Meanwhile, Alistair Smyth, director of policy and research at the National Housing Federation (NHF), says while the NHF supports the principles of the Awaab law, it will be a “challenge” for its members to comply with it.

But the most important thing for those affected, including Awaab’s family, is to put an end to the mold problems and eliminate the risk of further deaths. And fast, considering how long this debate has gone on.

“A lot of people don’t experience the same things [that] I passed,” says Awaab’s father.

“What is truly heartbreaking is that these are preventable deaths,” adds Nurse Hannah.

“We like to think we are forward-thinking on public health, but there is a huge gap between policy and reality.

“We really let people down.”

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