New regulation to protect social housing tenants is set to become law

Will the councils and housing associations be fining themselves because the unfortunate death of Awaab was due to the council, housing association and the parents. Stop blaming us landlords for your failures

It cannot be right that there is one standard for our private rented sector while "council" housing have lower standards of repair and enforcement of health and safety obligations.

There is talk of compulsory legal implementation of the present voluntary code enshrined in the Decent Homes Standard. It would be unjust that those standards are enforced merely against us private landlord while social housing providers can operate at a far lower standard.

Reply to the comment left by at 29/06/2023 - 12:52
As the leaseholder of an ex- local authority flat which I sublet I have experienced the ineptitude of council workmen in dealing with serious damp problems.
The worst was caused by a leaking cast iron downpipe which caused black mould to spread over the external wall of a bedroom and the tenants had to move out.
Every time I phoned the company dealing with the Councils maintenance I was issued with a new job reference number and given a date about 3 weeks later when they could schedule a visit.
Sometimes they would turn up and sometimes they would not.
I ended up tanking the wall and sorting the mould problem myself.
Eventually after about six months they fixed the downpipe but only after I had a conversation with the director of the maintenance company responsible for repairs who could not understand how I managed to get his mob. number.

They don't care about fines or any such sanctions as they just hold out their hands and the tax payer just ends up paying any way.

Find a way of taking fines from their wages like they do for us and the legislation would change really quickly.

So many of the damp problems shown by “outraged” politically motivated, manipulative “journalists” really have no interest in the health of the tenants when “exposing” bad landlords, and never criticise council or housing association landlords. The bureaucrats who invent and create building regulations, and their political masters, have no idea of the requirements to keep homes safe or habitable, as we all saw when they plastered flammable cladding on Grenfell Tower.
When damp becomes a problem on new or old buildings, it is nearly always because there is a lack of air circulation (something we will see more of when the cretins enforce insulation on solid wall buildings) Airbricks are often blocked in the mistaken belief that heat escapes through them. Sometimes airbricks are not fitted, and in solid concrete structures require fitting. When I see mature buildings on tv suffering with damp, I want to ask about air circulation, because when a 60-100 year building suddenly grows mould you know someone has meddled with the buildings integrity. As I mentioned, this ridiculous “green” obsession will have predictable and serious consequences for the nation’s housing stock, and politicians, bureaucrats, and journalists will clamour for “new” buildings when they don’t understand the simple remedies needed.
And landlords will be sacrificed to political dogma.