Housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa on issues of damp and mould in social housing | 5 News 

At least they have been given a property by the social! I'm homeless and been on the waiting list for 15 years!

We had tenants complain to us about damp in a house we rent that has never had damp before only to find they were using a tumble dryer in the house without passing the vent hose out of the window thus filling the house with moisture !

There is less mould in Africa due to the fresh air.

Why didn't she keep cleaning the mould off with bleach and water? Some people don't open the windows and that leads to condensation and damp. The thing is that despite the poor social housing conditions, nearly 1000 per day are landing in the UK with the full expectation of receiving a house. Maybe they think life is easy here.

Firstly cleaning Will get rid of the mould so will ventilation ie opening windows. Then you have immigrants coming over in droves where ultimately are they going to be housed. When they cannot house people here already.

I have met so many tenants never thought of opening a window when the sun is out

To lazy to clean the mould I guess or even buy those damp prevention blocks which only cost a pound which I use

You know what works on mould. Cleaning

My kids room had mould behind the wardrobe. I bleached it, sanded it down, wiped it with water and painted the room in qnti fungal paint. I didn't ask the council to sort it out, It was easy, took a day. Why couldn't his parents do that simple job? Why blame councils if you choose to let your kids live in filth?

The parents should have cleaned the property! Most properties always get damp and moist clean and clean!!

They never cleaned and repainted, we've all seen the pics. It's not good but this is what happens when immigration over burdens the social safety nets we pay for, the net that isn't even available to most English citizens now. Try getting a council place these days, it over, and it's over because of immigration. Cases like this will only further the government's desire to get out of the housing industry altogether, they'll pass more and more over to private landlords. That family has been here for years and still all needed interpretors at the trial so they could call England racist again.

Why the fuck were we housing them in the first place. Why didn't the dad doing anything about it? It's not hard to sort out

I believe the tenants should be educated about ventilation

I genuinly think that people just dont know that drying their washing on a radiator with all the windows closed is a really bad thing to do and will cause mold, of all things to blame the government for, you cant really blame them for this. Open your windows at least once a day and let air circulate, even private properties have to do this.

The government (and therefore the tax payer), is not responsible for your welfare. You should prioritise your mind, work ethic and your own family before you call on everyone else to deal with your problems. This is wealth redistribution. Many of us are not fooled by these games. End the welfare state! Mould or damp in a house that you rent? Landlord not doing anything about it? Here's an idea, move out. Pretty simple right? It's almost as if you don't care about the health of your child or you were too ignorant to know it was a danger and sought financial compensation to mask your shame.

A lot of this is down to lazy people not cleaning their homes. Damp is one thing but allowing mould to grow on the walls of your living room like that without cleaning it is beyond dumb!

What a surprise…compensation!

Education on this is key, The lifestyle and habits of the inhabitants sadly is the biggest cause of mould in properties.

What's social housing like in their country of origin? And what are they doing to the people over there to make sure that immigrants get decent housing and also what benefits would be given?

This happens in private property 😮

Mould is caused by two things, excessive humidity and cold spots where that humidity can condense to form wet patches. It is avoidable, with adequate ventilation and keeping humidity under control. Even when it starts to flourish, you can take a spray bottle filled with one part simple bleach and ten parts water and eliminate it entirely, killing the spores too. I agree though that a lot of social housing stock needs updating. The installation of a simple HV system in the attic with vents in all rooms, especially the kitchen and bathroom, pretty much makes this problem non-existent. Throw in a heat exchanger to the system and you can save on energy bills in the Winter too.

Nice to see a traditional English name attached to this social housing hand-out that's for sure.

No damp or mould problems in Africa.

Very sad a little one died.. but we need to know all the facts.. I’ve heard stories of people limiting ventilation to their rented accommodation, to accelerate mould to force a move.. and the fact the word racism has been thrown around, makes me sceptical

No doubt this will be everyone else's fault apart from the parents. They didn't ventilate their flat properly, which lead to the mould.

Parents should be ashamed . Easy to sort out . This is what happens when you get things for nothing

Hi Kwajo Thank you for your efforts to help tenants. I’m a retired former Senior Environmental Health Officer. I specialised in Housing. Any disrepair which is “ prejudicial to health” is a “legal nuisance” and the local authority had a duty to enforce the law relating to “nuisance”. I do not think this law and duty of enforcement has changed. I understand the difficulties and fears relating to security of tenure for tenants who complain. However this is less of an issue with Housing Association tenants. Tenants should be aware that they have recourse to Environmental Health departments in their local authority, who can enforce and prosecute. So called “lifestyle choice” as a “defence” is an old chestnut. Certainly advice can assist tenants in reducing the moisture levels in their homes, but essentially homes should be fit for purpose and not require tenants to permanently keep windows open and the heating on. Producing moisture within a home is an unavoidable consequence of occupancy, we each produce litres of water from breathing and sweating within our homes. Insulation of structural elements, passive ventilation and economical to run heating systems are intrinsic to reducing/removing moisture from a home. Passive ventilation used to be provided by chimney stacks. This is no longer a design feature of homes and many stacks have also been removed. Design has not compensated for this loss. Also some secondary insulation to conserve heat actually increases the problem of moisture retention in the property eg draft proofing. Blaming the tenants for “lifestyle choices” is ill-informed and simply will not answer. The problem of mould growth in homes will inevitably increase. Heating remains unaffordable and inefficient in many properties. Tenants are trapped between unaffordable heating and homes which are inadequately designed to facilitate passive ventilation, whilst conserving heat. Blaming tenants displays a lack of understanding of building construction and building services and is as we’ve observed dangerous. Frankly, unless a tenant is running a Turkish Bath in their home - the property should be able to cope with the moisture produced by occupancy without severe mould growth. Well done and thank you for your continued efforts.

we have mould during the winter months we just clean it off then dry it out a few times sorted ,we live in the wet country during the winter months there is no cure for mould just clean and dry till it comes back again.

It's the ones renting that are at fault as you need to ventilate, I have no mould in my house and its 116 years old, I once owned a rental, it had mould, heating on windows shut drying clothes inside I tried explaining it to them but would they listen nope. In th end I kicked them up developed the flat and sold it, never again.

I work in social housing, majority of the time it's usually a family of 6, clothes drying, constant cooking and showering, without the tenants ventilating properly.

I am an owner occupier and even I get mould around the place, its simple keep the place aired, open windows and clean the mould off surfaces the best thing is white vinigar in a spray with a cloth, non toxic and it works

Its shit that landlords are reluctant to maintain housing standards, however, there is nothing stopping tenants preventing damp from appearing.

This guy representing this "issue" is embarrassing himself. Why is it that people in social housing get a free house and still expect everything to be sorted for them? We had a damp and mould problem and do you know what we did? We sorted it by cleaning with mould products, ventilating regularly and educating ourself on the causes! We didn't sit back and let it kill our vulnerable child. Absolutely pathetic excuse for parents

his parents werent from rochdale, stay where you were.

imagine letting your child sleep in there and not even trying to clean it and instead of jail they will get a payout of millions and probably still get free social housing.

Connexus have failed to keep myself and my son safe. We have avd still victims of serious anti social behaviour. I've been physically and verbally abused, injuries sustained and scars. Graffiti, vandalism, torment and burglary twice. I managed to overturn the initial eviction, but out of nowhere they are now upholding the eviction and commencing possession order. My son was removed by the local authority as they deemed the home and street to be unsafe. I suffer with seizures and functional neurological disorder. Doctors and other organisations have written letters to support myself, but there historical prejudice and disregards from the representative from Connexus. I need help please

Evidence of racism in Britain seen in these comments. RIP little man - heart-breaking.

They tryna get a pay out, this was their fault and they should be in jail for neglect, did they buy mould cleaning products? do they have proof? if not then arrest them instead of passing the buck to landlords and playing the race card.

My partner manages properties and she’s sh*t hot at her job. No one gets away with anything tenant or Landlord. She’ll be the first to tell you that the build up of mould is typically (but not always) down to tenant behaviour. She’ll either catch the tenant drying stacks of washing on a clothes horse, drying washing on a radiator, purposely blocking vents with newspaper, not cracking the window when showering. She’ll catch it early and the giveaways are the mould starting to grow directly above radiators etc. So forgive me if I’m slightly sceptical, but I’ve seen how some people really behave. Because they’ve no idea about ventilation, they just carry on and then act all entitled when it starts to grow and assume it’s the Landlord’s fault and his/her problem. On the other side, she’s seen landlords paint over mould to hide it for viewings, which grows back through within a month, and not fitting extractor fans in bathrooms (which she refuses to market BTW, until it’s resolved) however, the first scenario is far more common. It’s part of most tenancy agreements to keep the property well ventilated, in the case of older properties with less ventilation crack the window, it’s the same result, you don’t have to open it wide and freeze. A gap through to the outside world, whether by fitted vent or cracked window is the same thing.

Lots of people saying bleach or clean it or condensation etc.. How many homeowners suffer with damp and mould? Yeah cus they are maintained properly... Landlords need to take a hint, only a small percentage of damp/mould is due to living habits.

How about a defining moment for this government! I worked for a lardlord, ASR estates and they are truly horrified!

An eloquent individual shining a light on a significant issue that has plagued social and lower rent housing for decades. Thank you, Kwajo, for giving many people a voice 👍

It is so lazy for people to just leave a comment to criticize and judge others than to really understand the situation.

You heard of anti mould cleaner . always the blame of council..the family is to blame .

What is social housing like in Africa?

😢 A so called developed country with the worst built houses in Europe. You would think we’re back in the 1960’s. This is so depressing.

We should end social housing.

My landlord refused to fix the mould in my place happy taking money but won't fix anything

Looks like you have mould growing on your camera equipment too

Who the hell is this Guy.????😅

Not all of this is down to the government did this family not think to clean this place before it happened I wouldn't keep my child in those conditions

I live on a boat. I don't suffer from condensation and mould myself but lots of other people in boats that I know use dehumidifiers. I'm not saying the landlord isn't at fault but I wonder why the parents didn't use a dehumidifier if the boy was suffering?

Well, you can either have cheap energy and avoid these problems or we can sacrifice our wellbeing for 'green energy'.

How on earth can this be manslaughter??

what do they want the government to clean their sty's also

This is all good, as long as ALL people are cared for like this rather than those who may not be native British, this has been happening across the country to British British people too for decades and nothing is ever done or said about it nor are these British renting families ever supported by media like this, is there a cultural reason why this is on MSM and finally getting looked at because nothing has ever been done about it before so WHY NOW? Is it because of who it has happened to? What has happened to this child is horrible but can we be fair and equal in all of this and start protecting all tenants of council housing please rather than making things look like its because this has happened to what they call a minority person, get this stuff some coverage regardless of ethnicity and then we will be moving in the right direction, being British is, never has been nor ever will be easy, life is hard for normal folk no matter the colour of your skin, its hard BECAUSE we are British and we all know that British people are being overlooked in their own country, it has to stop and bad housing does too, we dont need any child or person regardless of colour dying because of state neglect and EASY MONEY AND STORIES FOR THE SICK AND DEPLORABLE MAIN STREAM MEDIA MACHINE!!!!!

Compensation

would it even be on the news if the kid was whiite...nope

Cant believe the nasty comments here about the family.

I think we all know what this is about I"m not even listening to him you only have to read th comments I think it"s high time we gave all these poor ignorant people 5 bedroom houses

I'm sick and tired of people blaming tenants who have no power, r ignored and not listened to. When landlords, housing directors with 6 figure salaries and agovt that's more interested in sending billions to nazis in Ukraine than fixing the housing crisis in this country. Social housing & association flat's are tiny and poorly built. When you wash your clothes there is no place to hang your wet clothes than inside the home cause there is no balcony and/or garden and this compounds the problem. You can't open the windows, let the cold in if you have kids or someone elderly. What is someone to do. How can people live like this.

Is this the first time ever that a housing officer has been sacked because a tenant didn’t clean their home?

IM sure there Solicitor will make lots of money from this case and make alot of money for there client as well !!!! ,, think I would of bought a bottle of bleach myself and wiped the wall every few days and tried to put the rubber seal back in !!!!!!! still there Solicitor spoke well im sure she will get alot more work from the publicity

Just move then..stop playing the pity violin.

You can buy mould remover from about £5 Then paint walls open windows. These people have no clue of hygiene. Personal or otherwise. Just looking take some easy cash.

They should sue!

hopefully it will get back to africa and the golden land of the uk might not seem like a good idea to come.

The father is lying a doctor he went to has obviously expecting a cut for his information For lying saying that mould can kill mould can’t kill I’ve had mould in my house in association flat where is his respect for the Housing association I bet you any money if you check it was a Bangladesh doctor that lied just for compensation they’re both split the money now do a second autopsy on him his doctor is Bangladeshi and they cooked up a story for Compensation Give these men back their jobs they should sue u for slander

So sad

Where there’s BAME there’s a claim.

Disgrace RIP Little one

Aye,plenty children have had or got health issues about social housing,scandalous, and a lot of them look down their nose at people,could be fixed in a week if law makers get their act together.👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

Aww poor baby…

🥺💔 Don't Blame the Family who is innocent They Already lost a Baby,They are in Pain😢 And Some People Blaming Them No Body know the Full Story, If You look at Twice Is not Dirty wall Is A lot of Mould On the wall, and the wall Look not safe at All🥺 My Deepest Condolence To The Family Innallillaihi wainna illaihi Rajiun

And this is UK, a first world country! What a joke!

I hope you sue them in such a way they never treat anyone like that again

You know where Dover is Kwajo jog on