New figures suggest an epidemic of damp and mould in social housing run by some councils fiercely critical of private landlords.
The data has been drawn up by Midland Health, a private GP clinic.
It says that in the past five years, local councils have received 483,519 reports regarding damp and mould issues.
These relate to homes managed by the authorities directly, those managed by a third party such as a housing association, or those used for temporary accommodation.
A new league table reveals those councils where damp and mould are hitting tenants the hardest, based on figures adjusted for housing stock size.
1 Redbridge Borough Council – 1,209 complaints per 1,000 homes
2 Fareham Borough Council – 1,179 complaints per 1,000 homes
3 Exeter City Council – 950 complaints per 1,000 homes
4 Slough Borough Council – 868 complaints per 1,000 homes
5 Birmingham City Council – 866 complaints per 1,000 homes
6 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council – 846 complaints per 1,000 homes
7 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council – 846 complaints per 1,000 homes
8 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council – 805 complaints per 1,000 homes
9 Brent Borough Council – 790 complaints per 1,000 homes
10 Tamworth Borough Council – 783 complaints per 1,000 homes
A Midland Health statement says: “The figures are heartbreaking, given the tragic passing of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged mould exposure. While this helped push the government to introduce Awaab’s Law, forcing landlords to fix dangerous damp and mould quickly, the scale of complaints suggests local councils and landlords require further support.”
However, one council on the league table fiercely disputes the accuracy of the data.
A Redbridge council statement claims that “we can confirm that “the figures being circulated do not accurately reflect the number of residents reporting damp and mould in Redbridge” and describe them as ” Suggesting that Redbridge Council received the numbers stated is “grossly inaccurate and misleading.”
It says that when measured by unique properties, Redbridge has received 1,287 reports of damp and mould between 2022 and the present day.
It explains that a single case can generate multiple work orders involving, for example, surveys, repairs, treatments and follow‑up visits.
It says this significantly inflates the total and does not represent the true number of affected households.
The statement continues: “We prioritise assessing every report of damp and mould promptly, with a strong focus on protecting residents’ health and resolving issues as quickly as possible.
“With £53m invested in our homes over the last three years, we continue to strengthen our approach and improve our response in line with Awaab’s Law.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today