18 Round Table Review


In terms of resourcing, Holly Hickin, whose legal practice works with a variety of landlords, noted that social housing providers they work with were sending their own surveying teams for training, to handle disrepair claims in-house. Dale Holroyd of ZapCarbon said that most organisations they work with “just don’t have the budget to throw more staff at the issue.” T e importance of training and competence in building physics was also emphasised, with calls for better education and standards. T e need for a holistic approach to upgrades, which included ventilation in particular, was also stressed.


CLARITY OF DEFINITIONS Delegates shared views that there wasn’t yet enough clarity from the Government and the Social Housing Regulator on the precise defi nition of terms like “made safe,” and what the solutions to address identifi ed hazards should be, rather than just the process of identifying them. In the absence of this, teams had to make their own parameters on what compliance looks like, and how to go beyond it. Martin Hancock from Clarion asserted: “We need clearer guidance on what ‘made safe’ is. What is being looked for so we can be sure, comply and go above and beyond.” Holly Hicklin, as a barrister working in this area, confi rmed that the


regulation (Awaab’s Law is in fact a regulation which is enshrined in law) was the “fi rst time that specifi c time frames have been introduced for this,” however we still “don’t have time frames on fi xing the problems.” Dale Holroyd said that there “isn’t clarity on when a disrepair claim is going to be generated, which is why providers have customer care teams who have been told just to put everything through as an emergency.” Naomi Sadler warned that while management were required to be


“reasonably aware” of property risks, retrofi t assessors “do not understand thermal bridging calculations, or hygrothermal performance of buildings.” She questioned if this would put the liability onto the landlord, and whether there was awareness of how specifi cations might aff ect an EPC rating on a MEES assessment? “As far as I know, Leeds University and Dublin are the only two that teach that subject.” With housing portfolios representing a huge number of properties to tackle,


but potentially with similar symptoms of damp and mould, experts believe there is a case for auditing for damp and mould and EPCs at the same time, as part of planned works.


RESIDENTS’ ROLE Engaging residents closely in projects in order to build trust, and ensure that access and visits are managed smoothly, is paramount. It’s also important to emphasise their role in helping to prevent damp and mould in homes, without criticising or pointing fi ngers, although sensor technology used sensitively and backed by education can help indicate to management where lifestyle is a factor. Craig Cundey of Ubbink illustrated one reason why, asking Martin of Clarion: “How oſt en do your guys go out and they’ve got a perfectly good system, but it’s been turned off , and as a result, you’ve actually then caused the problem?” Martin Hancock said that, giving the example of extractor fans being turned


off , “It’s got to be done in a light way, it’s not a blame culture any more.” He added: “T e shiſt has been to ‘It’s not your fault. You might not know this, but actually there are steps that will can take.’” He says the reaction to this new more considerate approach has been positive, including the fact that “they can see we are taking things seriously, especially with faster reaction times.” Clothes drying is a controversial area which can cause moisture and mould


growth, and Naomi Sadler said it had been overlooked in designs. She said things would be diff erent “if you actually provided homes with an area to dry your clothes, which was the point of the indoor drying credit, but most people thought that was a load of nonsense.” Sarah Garry summed up the trust issue, at least in the case of private landlords: “Tenants don’t always feel comfortable reporting issues, because they know they can be evicted and a new tenant can be in place in a few days time.” She said that while this is changing as a result of the upcoming Renters’ Rights Bill, “we’re not there yet.”


BREAKING THE SILOS Dale Holroyd explained how the administrative challenge inherent to trying to align various trades or professionals dealing with a single hazard can create oſt en insurmountable problems for providers large as well as small, and can also make it impossible to scale up the strategy. He said: “If we just put ourselves in the eyes of the ops manager, it’s relatively easy to come up with a solution if you’re managing 50, or 100 homes with one person managing one set of cases. T e challenge comes when you have nine diff erent people dealing with one case, whether it be a contractor, plumber, customer care team, someone using sensor data.” He explained that this was where data sharing oſt en fell down, and became silo’ed. Holroyd continued: “T ere’s all these disconnected bits of eff ort that the


manager is having to deal with and having to track all of these interactions is what makes it almost impossible to scale.” While he conceded that Clarion “were doing some great work,” he added that “it’s hard to replicate in a smaller organisation where they don’t have the same set of resources, or don’t have an in-house team”. Views were also shared that with the plethora of products available on the


market to social housing teams with promises of being the ideal solutions to damp and mould, a national system of advice on products was needed. Martin Hancock said that Clarion’s 800 operatives just working on safeguarding properties and tenants were challenged by the fact that “every single manufacturer will tell you that their product does the job and is the best and the others are useless.” Dale Holroyd: “It would be great to have a certifi ed body that can say these


are the products that you need,” but with the caveat that “there are certain products that are not suited for someone who’s a serious asthma suff erer, for example.” He added: “It’s defi nitely about meeting the homeowner or the tenant or resident where they’re at and then having a series of responses that you could use for that specifi c circumstance.” Holroyd explained how the administrative challenge inherent to trying to


THE SCALE PROBLEM Dale Holdroyd of ZapCarbon asserted that good strategies are no use without “scalable resources and systems to be able to manage cases”


align various trades or professionals dealing with a single hazard can create oſt en insurmountable problems for providers large as well as small, and can also make it impossible to scale up the strategy. He said: “If we just put ourselves in the eyes of the ops manager, it’s relatively easy to come up with a solution if you’re managing 50, or 100 homes with one person managing one set of cases.


Housing Management & Maintenance Spring 2026


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52