London borough named worst in England for damp and mould in council homes

Liberal Democrat councillors have called on Haringey Council to do more to provide "liveable conditions" for tenants after topping a table of damp and mould complaints in England. Figures from a comparison website, Uswitch, show that in 2023/24 Haringey received 30.71 complaints about damp and mould for every 10,000 homes managed.

The borough topped the table with Hammersmith and Fulham coming second at 29.07 complaints per 10,000, Lambeth third with 26.83, and Lewisham in fourth with 25.86. London councils made up eight of the top ten worst local authorities in England, with neighbouring boroughs Camden and Islington coming fifth and sixth with 16.96 and 16.09 complaints per 10,000 homes respectively.

The results were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request and statistics from the government's social housing regulator. However, Sarah Williams, the council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, said the data was "not comparable" as most of the London councils featured in the table had "thousands more council properties" than Haringey.

She said: "We take damp and mould issues very seriously. One of the key changes since housing services came back under our control in 2022 has been to adopt a 'zero tolerance' approach, with a proactive action plan in place, and the worst cases tackled."

The two highest scoring boroughs in the data, Haringey and Hammersmith and Fulham, own around 15,000 and 11,000 council homes respectively, while Camden, which had just over half the number of complaints, manages more than 22,000 properties, and Islington 25,000.

But Liberal Democrat councillor Dawn Barnes felt the Uswitch report was the "latest in a litany of damning verdicts". Cllr Barnes said: "I can no longer be surprised, but it's still incredibly disappointing to see Haringey's Labour council once again hitting the headlines for its appalling record on providing liveable conditions for its tenants.

"Residents in council homes have suffered through years of empty promises, but nothing is improving. The lack of urgency from the council's leadership is simply indefensible."

Cllr Williams maintained the data presented an "inaccurate picture", arguing the council provided "comprehensive advice" to its tenants and leaseholders and had set up a "dedicated line" for reporting problems. She referenced the council's "pioneering retrofit programme" and said this would ensure homes were "less prone to damp and mould" as well as "cut down on energy bills".

She said: "We are focused on giving our tenants and leaseholders good quality, secure homes, so they can have the best chance of a healthy, fulfilled life. Residents wanted to see action being taken and that's exactly what we are doing."

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