New team and £9m cash pot to tackle mould in homes

A NEW team and an expected £9m investment will be used to help tackle damp and mould in council homes across Nottingham in response to a new law.

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The first phase of Awaab's Law came into force at the end of October, forcing social landlords to take urgent action to fix dangerous homes or face the full force of the law, the Government says.

It comes following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his Rochdale home. The home was managed by social housing provider, Rochdale Borough-wide Housing (RBH), at the time.

Cllr Jay Hayes (Lab), executive member for housing at Nottingham City Council, spoke of the authority's response to the new law in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Wednesday.

"In the buildup to Awaab's Law coming in, we've done some work around looking at getting access to properties and setting up a dedicated damp and mould team in-house to get on top of mould issues as they are reported," he said.