Brighton union calls for crackdown on damp and mouldy rental homes

ACORN claims it has seen dozens of tenants evicted after complaining about damp and mould

Author: Vanessa BellringerPublished 28th Mar 2023
Last updated 28th Mar 2023

A renters union in Brighton wants to see tighter rules for private landlords letting out damp and mouldy homes.

The Housing Secretary said the government is determined to bring in new laws to force social housing landlords to fix mouldy properties following the death of two-year-old, Awaab Ishak.

The toddler died in a mouldy flat rented from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.

A damning report found the housing group was "dismissive, discriminatory and unsympathetic" towards residents.

But ACORN Union, based in Brighton, claims many private tenants are also facing poor living conditions which are often ignored by landlords.

Toby Sedgwick, member defence organiser for ACORN, said: “We’re seeing damp and mould across the board, major issues with repairs, talking to people who have issues like heating going out; not being repaired; boilers going down and not being repaired for months on end - leaving people with no heating throughout winter or no hot water.

“We’re seeing landlords blaming mould on tenants saying ‘oh, you need to open a window or dry your clothes outside’, when the mould is clearly coming from structural problems with the property.

“So, it’s a lot of the same problems that aren’t being addressed and this is why we formed ACORN in the first place, because so many tenants are facing these issues and we felt they needed a voice.”

Toby said the issue lies with Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction notices, which allows landlords to evict a tenant without giving a reason.

He added: “We’ve seen dozens of cases of tenants being evicted across Brighton after complaining about mould, damp, disrepair or a rent increase that they can’t afford.

“Until that law is repealed this is going to keep happening.”

The government has outlined plans to abolish section 21 evictions and introduce a simpler, more secure tenancy structure as part of the Renters Reform Bill.

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