This follows on from the Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, writing to council leaders and social housing providers regarding damp and mould after the tragic death of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak due to a mouldy home, and the subsequent Coroner’s report.
The guidance outlines the causes of damp and mould, the associated health risks, and the crucial role that ventilation plays in mitigating and preventing mould. Landlords already have a duty of care through the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, including the need for effective ventilation and freedom from damp and mould. The new guidance ensures that landlords have a thorough understanding of both their legal responsibilities to residents and of the serious health risks caused by damp and mould.
Condensation and mould can wreak havoc on both housing stock and residents’ respiratory health. To help social housing and private landlords meet their duty of care and the requirements of the guidance, Airtech offers a comprehensive service to landlords to help overcome the problems of condensation, mould and poor ventilation, thus helping create healthy homes for residents.
“Condensation and mould are a major problem in many rented properties, so we welcome this new Government guidance which once again puts this issue in the spotlight. These twin blights are one of the main causes of poor indoor air quality, which can have major health consequences for households. So, it’s essential landlords understand their duty of care and what is the best ventilation option for their property”, said Natasha King, RMI Product Manager.
Airtech can help landlords meet their duty of care by offering comprehensive property surveys to identify condensation, damp and mould problems and recommendations to solve the issues, mould removal treatment and redecoration, and a full ventilation installation service for both responsive and planned maintenance. The treatment and mould removal is backed by a unique three-year guarantee that the mould will not return.
Boasting patented market-leading ventilation technology that improves resident comfort and efficiency, Airtech can offer landlords the correct solution for individual properties. This includes the Air+ Loft Positive Input Ventilation (PIV) (heater model) and Air+ Wall PIV units, which pushes out stale, humid air and replace it with filtered and warmed air from outside. This has the added benefit of helping keep any warmth in the home rather than extracting it to the outside, plus the Air+ Loft PIV is made from recycled plastic helping social housing landlords meet their environmental targets.
Other options include datalogging fans which record details of a home’s environment, such as humidity and temperature levels to allow the landlord or contractor to track and analyse the correlation of these variables together on one graph. This will allow a landlord to clearly track the effects changing lifestyle habits have on a home environment. It will also demonstrate how reducing relative humidity through adequate heating and ventilation can maintain a healthy home. Airtech’s sophisticated datalogging allows landlords to interrogate saved IAQ data thus giving peace of mind. For example, Airtech offers environment sensing bathroom and kitchen fans, such as the SensaFan range including the SA25 SELV, the SA60 SELV and the SA64, which can store data for five weeks. Meanwhile, Airtech’s unique control and datalogging DataFan range, including the DA25, DA60 and DA64, can store data for 15 months.
Hand-in-hand with the datalogging, Airtech’s specialist control platform monitors the data as it is collected and modulates the fan accordingly to react automatically and proportionally to rising humidity levels, offering quick and effective humidity control. This ensures the resident keeps the optimum environment in the home to avoid condensation forming, thus helping maintain good IAQ.
With winter set to prove challenging for social housing residents and private renters alike due to the energy crisis, landlords should consider now how to improve the thermal comfort of their housing stock, as well as improving ventilation, to help tackle condensation and mould.
Find out more information on the Government guidance.
For further information on how Airtech can help you, please get in touch using the information below.
