The Residents Association has campaigned over a number of years for our landlords to properly deal with damp in residents’ flats.
If you have issues with damp, how you should respond depends on what type of tenancy you have:
- If you’re a housing association tenant affected please report it to your landlord and tell us you’ve done it.
- If you’re a leaseholder affected by damp please read this advice.
- If you’re a private sector tenant affected by damp please contact your private landlord.
The Citizens Advice Bureau has advice to renters about damp issues here.
We’ve known that damp has been a problem since we held a public meeting in May 2016. The council, which regulates landlords such as ours, has been aware of the problem since 2020. A council commissioned report said our landlords ‘have been aware for a number of years, that there are significant structural defects to the fabric of buildings’ but rather than fix the issue they ‘routinely assume that the “lifestyle” and “behaviour” of residents is the primary factor for the presence of condensation damp and mould in flats. No objective or quantifiable evidence has been produced to support these assertions’.
As a result of our campaigning the council threatened to sue our three landlords. This caused the landlords to do the work. Almost two thirds of the tenants who complained about damp had work done that they are happy with. This work has made a real difference. We’ve also heard of successes at Harbin House and Saunders House.
We received coverage from My London News, the Brixton Blog (twice), the South London Press, Inside Housing, and the BBC. And we worked with Community Organisers who gave this really inspiring write up on the campaign
In 2017 and 2018 some residents tried involving lawyers as individuals with variable success. If you’re thinking of involving lawyers please contact us as we might be able to put you in touch with others who have tried it.
St Martins TRA 