iOpt Welcome’s the Ombudsman’s Call to Action on Damp and Mould
iOpt Welcome’s the Ombudsman’s Call to Action on Damp and Mould
Last week, the Housing Ombudsman released a report urging a zero tolerance approach on damp and mould. As reported in Inside Housing:
‘The ombudsman, which made 26 recommendations for landlords in the report, has urged the sector to change from a reactive to proactive culture when it comes to addressing damp and mould, which must be a “higher priority” for landlords. The report notes two “key systemic issues” that persist across the ombudsman’s casebook – over-reliance on residents and a lack of overall responsibility for ensuring complaints are resolved.’
A few learnings from working with the sector
iOpt has been working with social housing providers over the past five years to improve how they manage their properties and to more proactively identify and address the conditions that can lead to damp and mould. Through our environmental sensors, social housing providers can not only instantly detect mould and growth, but through machine learning they can also predict properties that will be affected by it and act before it becomes a problem.
Here are just a few of the learnings from our work to date, which demonstrate how IoT can help:
Damp and mould isn’t just a property issue
While damp and mould will impact the property, the impacts are often far more widely felt. Recently an ITV News report using data from a Kings Fund and National Housing Federation study identified that poor housing conditions costs the NHS more than £1.4bn each year. The root causes are often also not directly related to the property itself, but to the behaviours and circumstances of the tenants, for example it is estimated that fuel poverty affects over 4 million UK households.
As a result, the ability to identify the causes that might lead to damp and mould is often dependent on how aware we are of the non-property related issues, which staff and/or tenants may not be aware of or forthcoming with.
“We have found that tenants are very proud, especially the older generation. We had one client who installed our sensors into a property of a tenant of 30 years. They had always paid their rent on time and never contacted the provider for any maintenance. As a result the provider had no need to contact the tenant. Within a week of the sensors being in place during winter months, it was clear the tenant wasn’t heating their home as the internal temperature was at a constant 12 degrees. An alert was sent to a housing officer and they contacted the tenant to check on their welfare. During a call it was discovered that the tenant couldn’t afford a new tank of fuel. Within 24 hours of that conversation the provider had arranged for a tank of fuel to be delivered to the tenant at no cost. The tenant was overwhelmed with the gesture and within days the sensors could detect regular heating patterns and reduction in humidity within the property,’ informed Emma Blackmore, Head of Client Engagement iOpt.
“iOpt’s sensors monitor the internal conditions of the home and give the house a voice to tell providers the facts, without any subjectivity or bias, and will allow providers to take action on conditions that may lead to damp and mould,” continued Emma.
Timeliness of action is crucial
The conditions for damp and mould can be present long before the more obvious and widely reported indicators appear. As a result, by the time these indicators are reported, it is often too late to make any meaningful difference to the condition of the property without spending big, and some of the health impacts to the tenant will have already been felt.
Using IoT, we can create an early warning system, alerting providers to conditions presenting the risk of damp and mould, allowing providers to intervene, take action and support tenants to overcome the root causes before they become major issues.
“Damp and mould is an issue that often has a variety of root causes and wide reaching implications. While the data collected by sensors won’t tell us exactly what these causes are, it equips housing professionals with timely, unbiased and factual information required to take informed action and provide tenants with the proactive and supportive service they deserve,” Emma concludes.
If you’d like to hear more about what we do, please email emma.blackmore@ioptassets.com
