Dealing with Damp and Mould - In Depth Session for Housing Professionals

Landlord Accreditation Scotland provides letting agents with training that can be used for CPD purposes, and which can also be used as part of your ongoing commitment to a strong knowledge base in agency teams.

Damp and mould in residential homes is, unfortunately, a reasonably common occurrence. As our housing stock ages and our lifestyles progress, homes are not always appropriately designed to withstand normal domestic activity, such as cooking and bathing. Assuming that complaints by tenants about damp and mould are the result of ‘lifestyle choice’, is wholly unacceptable. Instead, our homes need to be resilient to everyday activities and capable of managing condensation.

This course will explain how damp and mould can be categorised. We will explore the legal framework of landlord repairing obligations and the requirement to provide a healthy and safe home. This will allow delegates to not only understand damp and mould and the likely causes, but also the obligations placed on landlords to resolve these issues.

This course is delivered across two 90-minute sessions.

Topics include:

• Why is damp & mould a prevailing issue and why we need to adapt our response
• Understand types of damp and how to identify them
• Understand condensation and how to identify it
• Mould – What is it? Why is it hazardous to health? What are the preferred growing conditions?
• Understand the triangle of ‘key components’ that a house must have to be able to appropriately manage condensation, the HIVE model
• Back to basics on construction types, building defects and locational factors
• Know the importance of the 4 Rs - Report, Record, Respond, Resolve!
• Review organisational policies on inspection and reporting
• Standard risk matrix approach to inspecting property
• Explore the underpinning legislation placing obligations on landlords to provide safe and healthy homes
• Recap on tolerable and repairing standards and guidance for each. This will allow delegates to understand why landlords cannot ignore the issue and the implications if they get things wrong
• Deep dive each to understand how far our obligations as landlords go
• The Awaab Ishak case and why things need to change
• Understand the “top tips” and advice that we can give tenants to help them to help you through education and support

Who is this webinar for: This course is suitable for those working in maintenance teams along with property managers and letting staff who are visiting properties at any stage of the tenancy.

Course tutor: Carrie Kuss, Director or Training at Property Training Solutions Ltd. Carrie has over 20 years of PRS industry experience as private investor and letting agent. Carrie also works in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of housing (CIH) as a tutor, apprenticeship associate and author.

To view our Terms and Conditions for this course, please click here.

A virtual classroom is a learning environment where participants can interact, communicate, view and discuss material, while working in groups, via an online platform. LAS use Zoom.

For training modules delivered virtually, the webinar facilitator will confirm a delegate is present and therefore delegates need to be visible via camera or have made LAS aware in advance of why this is not possible.