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Buildings: Mould

Answer

There is already a system in place used to measure health and safety in the home, including threats to health associated with mould or fungal growths. An assessment under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) generates a numerical score that falls into one of two categories, with ‘category 1’ the most dangerous. Under the Housing Act 2004 local authorities must take enforcement action if they identify category 1 health and safety hazards, and social housing fails the Decent Homes Standard (DHS) if category 1 hazards are present.

A review of the HHSRS will come into force on 23 June, introducing an updated assessment and scoring process, new descriptive terms and new baseline indicators for achieving safety against each hazard. Comprehensive new HHSRS guidance sets out how damp and mould growth is assessed, including detail on the health effects and causes, preventative measures and other considerations.

We have also published an updated DHS that will require landlords to ensure that their properties are free from damp and mould. This is in addition to the first phase of Awaab’s Law, which from October last year forces forces social landlords to take urgent action to fix dangerous damp and mould within fixed timescales, and our damp and mould guidance for housing providers on gov.uk here (attached).

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL732

Session

2026-27

Attachment

Dam and mould guidance

Subjects

Buildings Mould

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk