Awaab's law: ombudsman found damp and mould failures at Lewisham home

Lewisham council was named in a housing ombudsman severe maladministration report, which focused on damp and mould cases.

The report was published on 28 October, the day after Awaab’s Law came into force.

Awaab Ishak was a two-year-old boy who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by the severe mould he was exposed to in his family’s Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) property in Manchester.

The new legislation requires social housing landlords to fix reported damp, mould and emergency repairs within strict timeframes.

Lewisham council was criticised after a family including five children were left living in a 2-bedroom flat with damp and mould problems, for more than seven months.

The housing ombudsman investigation found the council did not follow its own vulnerable residents policy when addressing damp and mould, and failed to deal with the issue urgently. The council also failed to tell the family what its plans were for the repairs, or the timescales needed for them.

A Lewisham council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they have assigned a dedicated officer to support the family and address the failings, as well as provide a clear schedule of works until the problem is fully resolved.

Report focused on damp and mould cases

The housing ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, released the findings as part of a critical report which looks into failings when addressing damp and mould complaints from social housing residents.

Among the cases found at other councils and housing associations there were carpets which were too wet to touch, mushrooms growing on a child’s wall and a household which experienced water running down their child’s wall when it rains.

Mr Blakeway said: “The events take place over months in all cases. In several cases it becomes years. In some, issues are unresolved until we intervene. This is far from action happening within days or weeks, as would be expected now under Awaab’s Law.

“Most cases also involve residents reporting health concerns, including children with severe asthma or fungal infections. But often this does not prompt an urgent response from the landlord.”

In Lewisham council's case, it had responded a leak but failed to monitor the situation afterwards, despite other residents in the same block of flats reporting leaks from the same location.

The family told the council damp and mould was now starting to appear, but had to chase twice before their reports were even responded to. The council offered a mould wash and said it would do a damp and mould inspection, but failed to do this and only looked at the roof.

The council also became confused about the damp’s cause, because its records were unclear. At the time of the housing ombudsman’s investigation, the family were still living with damp and mould. The council had provided no plans to resolve the situation and but was ordered to create a timeline for action to resolve the issues.

The ombudsman stated that it had conducted a case review, following which Lewisham council is implementing improvements in different areas, in line with its responsibilities under Awaab's law.

A spokesperson for Lewisham council said: “This case highlights how losing the thread of more complex repairs can lead to frustration and distress for residents living in non-decent homes, despite repeated visits by our staff and contractors.

“Since housing services returned to the council in October 2023, we’ve been working hard to improve how we manage information and deliver repairs, particularly around damp and mould.

“We are taking our statutory responsibilities under Awaab’s Law extremely seriously and have recently introduced new Repairs and Damp and Mould policies, alongside a root and branch redesign of the systems we use to schedule and track repairs progress.”

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