Labour to extend Awaab’s Law into private rented sector
Party's deputy leader says the extension of the law, which was triggered by a toddler's death in 2020, would be a 'no brainer'.
Letting agents may soon face more red tape if Labour wins power after the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner promised to extend the Government’s ‘Awaab’s Law’ to private as well as social landlords.
She said: “The private rented sector has widespread problems with damp, mould and cold, driven by the poor energy efficiency of privately rented homes.
“It is a no-brainer to extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector and that is exactly what Labour will do.
“There is no justification for letting private landlords off the hook for resolving mould and damp issues in their properties.”
The Government has already issued guidance on managing mould and damp within social housing and Ministers are consulting on Awaab’s Law, which would enable tenants in the social rented sector to hold landlords to account for poor housing conditions by taking legal action through the courts, and require minimum response times.
Awaab’s Law
The law is named after toddler Awaab Ishak, whose death in Rochdale was linked to mould and damp at his parent’s council flat within the town.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) says that although it welcomes ‘political interest’ in raising standards in housing across ‘all tenures’, nothing it likely to change until council are properly resourced to pay for the enforcement of standards.
Louise Hosking, its Executive Director of Environmental Health, says: “Local authorities are severely under-resourced. There is a need for sustained and predictable funding for the enforcement of housing standards – and a lot more of it.”
Absolutely agree with every word John Redden has written and exactly what needs to be done.
Ms Rayner my experience over the last 20 years and perhaps I am lucky is that landlords in my area look after their properties its their investment. They dont want mildew as it costs them in decoration etc. However, I do find that tenants are becoming worse at ventilating, drying clothes inside and frankly do not understand that lifestyle contributes to and usually causes black mould. I just hope you also produce a strong document on how tenants can prevent black mould which of course is rarely damp. The word crisis is much overused these days in the media but we have a crisis in housing especially the rental sector constant sabre rattling and knocking of landlords is continuing to contribute to this. I just wish one party would listen to the industry professionals instead of the biased view of Shelter who house no one.