Research carried out
across more than 300 local authorities in England and Wales has revealed a 12%
tenant complaint rate relating to mould, damp and condensation.
Through the Freedom of
Information Act, industry specialist CIT (Consultancy, Investigation, Training)
questioned 326 local authorities about the number of properties they were
responsible for and the number of complaints they had received between January
2012 and May 2018 relating to the three issues.
Of the local
authorities that responded, 57,739 complaints had been received from tenants in
the timescale set. The responding authorities were responsible for a total
housing stock of 474,923 – so a 12.2% complaint rate. Particularly concerning
for CIT, which is a specialist in assessing cavity wall insulation (CWI) and
external wall insulation (EWI) issues, was one local authority that had
installed CWI into 70% of its housing stock and EWI into the remainder and had
received complaints equivalent to more than 80% of its properties.
“Although the
information we gathered does not directly link issues with moisture ingress to
CWI or EWI, it should be something that social housing providers consider,”
said Rob McCormack, CIT Director.
“We know from our own
investigations that CWI failure can lead to a number of moisture
ingress-related problems. One tenant stored crockery and utensils in plastic
containers because their kitchen was so badly affected by damp and mould.
Another example involved a local authority facing a huge bill to address water
penetrating outer walls of homes and transmitting to the inner leaf using the
cavity fill as a ‘bridge’. In all cases the key to addressing these problems is
understanding the underlying cause and dealing with it correctly. However, we
asked in our survey how many disrepair claims had been made in the last five
years that were the result of CWI or EWI. All respondents answered ‘none’,
which is of concern.”
The research also
revealed that installation and CWI extractions are on-going across the country,
with 16% of respondents installing it and 5.6% removing it. EWI is currently
being installed by 20% of survey respondents.
“CWI and EWI, when
properly specified and installed, are accepted methods of improving the
insulation levels of domestic properties, delivering warm, safe and more energy
efficient properties that can help address fuel poverty. However, there is
concern that not all installations meet the necessary standards and this can
result in the problems highlighted,” added Mr McCormack. “Getting it right
first time is critical given that failure of the insulation system is more
expensive to remediate than it would have been to correctly specify and install
in the first instance.”
CIT (Consultancy,
Investigation, Training) is a specialist provider of independent, expert
technical advice and property investigation services to organisations concerned
about the performance of insulation products. It delivers peace of mind about
the condition of housing stock and reassurance when properties are being
recommended for retrofit intervention works.
