Leeds council home damp and mould complaints more than double

Complaints of damp and mould in council housing in Leeds more than doubled at the end of last year, a report said.

Leeds City Council said a 120% increase over normal reporting levels in November was partly prompted by the death of a toddler in Rochdale.

Rising costs were also having an impact as more people were struggling to heat their homes.

This was "leading to higher than normal levels of condensation damp and mould", officials said.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the report to the council's executive board pointed to media coverage of Awaab Ishak's death.

The two-year-old died from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould at his Rochdale home.

This had increased tenants awareness and led to a "significant increase" in damp and mould reports, putting frontline teams under pressure, especially during the winter.

"This position has been heavily compounded by the current cost of living crisis and the fact that more people are falling into fuel poverty and cannot afford to heat their homes effectively (or run mechanical extractor fans) which is leading to higher than normal levels of condensation damp and mould within."

The council said of the homes it had inspected 1,692, about 3% of its housing stock, had category two level mould and damp.

None fell into category one, which would mean a serious risk to health.

Last week, the local authority apologised after it was revealed one of its tenants had suffered so badly from untreated damp and mould in his kitchen, he was unable to cook or eat in it for months.

The Housing Ombudsman said the council was guilty of severe failings in how it handled the case.

The authority has set up a dedicated unit, to allow tenants to report issues more easily, and said it had invested £85m since 2019 in preventative measures including heating, ventilation and insulation.

It also has scheduled works to improve a further 15,000 properties.

All councils have been asked by the government to monitor mould and damp in privately rented accommodation.

The report said based on preliminary inspections an estimated 3% of private homes have Category One damp and mould problems and around 8% have Category Two issues.