MILLION HOMES NOT FIT TO LIVE IN
Scandal of tenants forced into squalor
MILLIONS of Britons are stuck in ramshackle rented homes which are unsafe to live in – and are powerless to do anything about it.
Some are in fire risk deathtraps like London’s Grenfell Tower, where 71 people died last year.
Many other homes are riddled with health-sapping damp and have poor insulation.
Around one million homes fall below the proper standard. Now Labour MP Karen Buck is introducing a bill this month in an attempt to give power back to tenants.
And the Sunday Mirror is joining the campaign to ensure homes are fit – and safe.
Mrs Buck, whose party uncovered the figures, said: “It is beyond scandalous that people are in properties unfit for human habitation. We see properties riddled with damp and mould. People are living in unbelievable conditions – with black walls, with water dripping from the walls.
“In some places the air is almost impossible to breathe with the damp spores. Excess cold and damp and mould are the biggest examples of this.
“It creates and makes health problems worse and destroys people’s furniture and clothing.”
SPORES
The English Housing Survey shows 16.8 per cent of private tenanted properties have Category 1 HHSRS hazards – classed as a serious risk to health. They include poor fire safety, inadequate heating, or poor ventilation causing condensation and mould growth.
Of 756,000 households in the private sector at least 36 per cent contain children. A further 244,000 social tenanted properties have Category 1 hazards.
Landlords have no obligation to keep the property fit for habitation. They are obliged to repair the structure and major installations. But that only applies where something is broken or damaged.
The bill would give tenants powers to force the landlord to rectify issues that make the property unfit – and seek compensation when the proprietor fails to do so.
Polly Neate, CEO of housing and homelessness charity Shelter, said: “If the Government is serious about protecting renters and stopping rogue landlords in their tracks then it must urgently support the bill.” A MILLION UK homes unfit to live in means some three million people, including many children, live in rented properties that present a serious risk to their health and safety.
Yet landlords have no obligation to make houses and flats fit for tenants.
Some problems are covered if they are caused by disrepair but that does not include things like fire safety, inadequate heating, or poor ventilation leading to condensation and mould.
Private tenants can complain to the council but increasingly cash-strapped authorities are only doing this in a minority of cases. It is a postcode lottery.
It’s beyond scandalous, homes are dripping and riddled with mould KAREN BUCK LABOUR MP BATTLING FOR TENANTS
COMPENSATION
Council tenants don’t even have this channel open to them.
People are living in homes where they have to fight a constant battle to stay healthy, to stop their clothes and furniture from being destroyed.
I have seen properties where the toilet or the shower are just cabinets in the kitchen. Blackened walls where the damp makes it hard to breathe. Steep staircases without rails to stop people falling.
My Bill means that a tenant in unfit housing could take action against the landlord to make them put problems right and seek compensation for failings.
Everyone should have the right to a safe and decent home.
This Bill is a step towards making that a reality.