Round Table Review 17


WARNINGS FROM THE CHAIRMAN The round table chair Matt Baird (of Spring Housing) warned that the new Act could be used as “another stick to beat social housing providers with”


marginalised and ignored” in the sector previously, now engagement was vastly better. “We are talking about building safety [with tenants], making sure that the customers understand their buildings and what evacuation plan is in place. And they have been quite pleasantly shocked that we’re actually going out and making these eff orts.”


SOLUTIONS Potential solutions to issues of unhealthy homes, considering several potential causes including tenant lifestyles, were discussed by the panel. T ese ranged from IoT monitoring such as using sensors, to how to clean properties with mould, to tenant education. Hony Premlal said that during Covid her housing association had installed


IoT monitoring solutions due to the need to remote monitor properties, however a variety of issues emerged, of which one was the “massive cost for a small organisation.” In addition, she highlighted engagement with customers and tackling questions such as ‘why do I need a device in my home; are you checking up on me?” She said housing offi cers needed to go and explain the rationale of the changes to tenants, as there was “a lot of resistance to putting those devices in.” Premlal added that the volume of the data that resulted initially gave the HA


a challenge of both understanding it, and diff erent data systems not “talking to each other” in an effi cient way. Fixing such issues was key to building partnerships and trust with customers, to “get them understanding the real need,” she said, particularly in the face of challenges such as cost of living and increased heating bills.


SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT T e sponsors proposed questions to the group, beginning with David Bly of Cornerstone canvassing delegates on what they saw as being the main causes of damp and mould. He said that his fi rm was widely involved in educating tenants about the ramifi cations of drying clothes indoors, for example, and advocated an open, non-judgmental approach, setting out the issues clearly: “We try to change things using an approach of ‘did you know,’ i.e. did you know drying clothes indoors puts 4 litres of moisture into the air.” Bly said that greater knowledge was also needed in the housing sector to


correctly identify the causes, including distinguishing between damp and mould, and identifying more appropriate cleaning measures than a simple ‘wipe’. A holistic approach was essential: “T ere can be more than one symptom, so when you go in and fi x one thing, are you really just ticking a small box?” He said this was oſt en the case, and that most of the calls his fi rm had made were “ventilation related.” However, he added that sometimes lifestyle issues were being painted as


problems with the building; “if you get mould on your clothes in the cupboard or back of furniture, that’s nothing to do with the building. T at’s not structural, that’s atmospheric.” Bly also cautioned against spraying mould with cleaning products, saying that this was likely to spread the problem, and instead


fungicides were advisable, but added “there’s no real defi ned knowledge here, in the form of guidance.” Stephanie Goad countered by saying that when there was a “queue” of tenants


waiting for remedies for their properties, there was pressure to “remove the hazard, while there may be a longer term structural solution.” She asked Bly whether the ‘mould wash’ approach was relevant in this common scenario, and he said that a “change of approach” was required, including getting the fi rst companies on site [e.g. cleaners] to “gather information” such as via taking photos of mould before washing it off , so that the management body is “armed with the knowledge,” including on potential “patterns” which are being repeated in a property. Sarah Garry said the Property Care Association had been facing a diff erent


challenge – from buildings themselves – whereby level thresholds, required for access in new builds, were “leading to damp and mould because they’re not properly waterproofed.” She said this was an example of the regulations “not talking to each other, and we want to do the right thing.” She also referred to the challenge to social housing organisation teams’ of needing to “make sure they know what they want,” in terms of managing Healthy Homes, such as “how much they want to outsource, and what level of knowledge does my team need?” T e bottom line of best practice is whether it can be objectively measured


and verifi ed, and the chair Matt Baird asked whether there was any specifi c accreditation on damp and mould treatment. (Without this, he said that managers “could speak to four or fi ve diff erent contractors, and every one would say something slightly diff erent, making it very diffi cult to make an informed decision.”) David Bly said generally, the answer was ‘no,’ and “the nearest we have is the


Property Care Association, which has certifi ed surveyors.” He added that there was no requirement for housing offi cers or managers to have qualifi cations on managing damp and mould, and cited examples of misguided refurbishments which had introduced damp and ventilation problems. He said “legal regulation” was needed “under a recognised body, so we can get a uniform approach.” WMS Underfl oor Heating posed the question of how the “indoor health


benefi ts of underfl oor heating could be brought to existing stock while tackling challenges like rehousing during retrofi ts or access refusal?” Billy Cliff en of housing association Riverside said that while he saw underfl oor heating as an “easy sell,” he wanted to know “what the specifi c cases are where it is going to work best, because, clearly, I’m not going to put this in everything.” Ashley Welch of WMS admitted that “it’s not going to work in every home,”


whereas “in new build, it’s very easy to put in.” Andrew Burke of the National Housing Maintenance Forum asked “what happens if people are turning the heating on and off , which is what a lot of people do? Does it work with the same effi ciency?” Welch responded simply by saying “it’s about educating the users.” Finally, Tarmac’s Luke Brooks asked: “With Awaab’s Law enforcing stricter


response times for damp and mould issues, how can social landlords shiſt from reactive to preventative approaches?” Andrew Burke endorsed this strategy, and said: “T e Housing Ombudsman has been making quite a push on the


Housing Management & Maintenance April/May 2025


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