Agenda item

Councillor O’Halloran the Executive Member of Housing and Needs gave a statement in response to a recent online coverage of damp and mould in one of Islington’s Council homes originating on social media.

Executive Member stated that with regards to the case reported online, Council repeatedly tried to access the property so as to carry out the necessary works, offering the resident temporary accommodation on several occasions which he refused, and turning down all affairs of a temporary accommodation. 

Executive Member informed Committee that following resident’s request for a permanent new home and instructing solicitors to seek an outcome through disrepair, the Council has provided all parties its surveyors report on condition and the specification for works.

In light of the above, meeting was advised that Council has pursued an injunction to secure access so that urgent repairs could be carried out while continuing to engage with the resident in the hope of gaining entry.

Meeting was advised that Council has now gained access to the property on the 11^th September 2023 so as to undertake the required works. Also Council will also consider the Council’s injunction request to ensure the works can be completed.

Finally Executive Member informed the meeting that in light of the above and going forward, the Council has reviewed its approach to seeking injunctions especially when residents fail to provide access, that Council will automatically begin proceedings if no response is received after three letters from Council solicitors .

Executive Member reassured the council and its residents that despite this legal option being a last resort, the Council takes its safeguarding responsibilities serious to prevent cases of damp and mould and other disrepair escalating .

The Chair thanked the Executive Member for her statement clarifying the Council’s position and thanked housing officers for their actions so far on addressing not only with this particular case but in general and that it is important that all cases of damp and mould are dealt with effectively and quickly.


Meeting received an update on the progress on how the Council addresses its damp and mould within its housing stock . The following issues were highlighted:

·       Meeting was informed of the recently published Government new guidance on 7^th September 2023: Understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould in the home for social and private sector landlords.

·       Guidance sets out a clearly the health risks of damp and mould, regulation on damp and mould, what is damp and mould and root causes, how to respond to reports, taking a proactive approach to reduce the risks, collaborative working with other professionals and building relationships with tenants.

·       The guidance states “This guidance is a direct response to the Coroner’s report, and has been developed with a multidisciplinary group of experts in housing and health. Members of the government’s expert Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants were also consulted. It makes sure that social and private sector landlords have a thorough understanding of their legal responsibilities, and of the serious health risks that damp and mould pose”. Islington is assessing itself against this best practice guidance.

·       Meeting was advised that Islington is assessing itself against this best practice guidance.

·       In terms of reviewing all damp and mould cases from the last three years, meeting was advised that all tenants on this list have been contacted via multiple communication methods, that the remaining no access cases have been passed for priority tenancy audit. Members were informed that the dashboard created for this activity has been used to design an operational damp and mould dashboard for new and live cases.

·       In terms of investment, Officer advised that although the Council has invested an extra £1million every year for a new damp and mould action team, including specialist surveyors and more funding for ventilation and insulation, Council has invested over £2 million this year on damp and mould activities. This includes additional works, additional surveying resources and increase number of administrators and operatives.

·       Meeting was advised that the damp and mould Power BI dashboard will be available in Q2 2023, providing real-time updates on damp and mould performance, monitoring data over time, identify ‘hotpots’ and look at damp and mould through an equalities lens and that there is still ongoing work to quality assure the figures in the dashboard.

·       In response to a question on the 3 reports produced by University College London for the Council, meeting was advised that this will include a report on the academic basis use and validity of methods to detect and quantify damp and mould; a report of the academic basis use and validity of remediation methods and a report cross referencing UCLs work on insulation and net zero carbo opportunities with damp and mould data.

·       On the Paragraph 49 special investigation by the Housing Ombudsman, meeting was advised that this is still underway, that since the beginning of August 2022, the Housing Ombudsman has issued 23 determinations of Severe Maladministration, 15 cases relating to Islington Council, two of which are related to damp and mould.

·       Meeting was reminded that some of the committee recommendations may have already been adopted or underway, noting that some of the actions as stated in the report have already been set in place but have been included in the report for completeness.

·       In terms of accessing and the reporting of Damp and Mould, the Council has established a dedicated online and phone channel for residents to report damp and mould and receive support and advice.

·       In response to a question on identifying root causes of damp, Director acknowledged that technical staff are trained and competent to identify and manage root cause of damp and that technical staff have sufficient equipment to conduct diagnosis.

·       Meeting was reassured that Council continues to provide training to nontechnical staff to recognise and report damp and that all newly employed staff were provide details during their induction day.

·       Communication with residents has been improving, setting out the reporting of damp and mould issues and explaining the process and the actions that the Service will undertake to address both the immediate and root cause.

·       On the question of identifying the causes of damp and mould, officer acknowledged that they are many and varied, that some are easily addressed and rectified quickly, some are structural and complex and will be included in the council’s capital programme, that funds have been allocated to address this issue.

·       With regards to street properties brought back in house experiencing damp and mould, the Director acknowledged the difficulty of managing the properties because of how they were built, however a capital programme is in place for these properties and that all these properties have been surveyed.

·       On the number of live cases, the Director acknowledged that final figures will be provided to clerk to share with members, however noting that presently the Service has 34 cases of high priority down from 67 last year.

·       On whether a pattern had been identified on causes of damp and mould for example in a tower block maybe on particular side of the building, meeting was advised that there were some estates where this has been observed, that more work analysis needs to be done in this area with some estates being piloted .

·       Members were reminded that it is difficult to force entry into residents properties to address damp and mould however the legal route is only employed only after all attempts to access the property fails.

·       On the cases highlighted by the Housing Ombudsman were recent the meeting was advised these were backlogs dating back a few years and that officers do not foresee any increase as in most cases reported by residents, things are quickly resolved.

·       The Director noted that going forward if Committee is minded he would be putting together a list of recommendations and welcome members input.

·       Members of the committee are invited to amend or add to the draft recommendations.

RESOLVED:
That the officer update be noted.