If you are dealing with damp and mould in a rented home in England or Wales, your landlord has a legal duty to fix it. Here is exactly what your rights are and what to do next.
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Short answer: If you rent in England or Wales, your landlord has a legal duty to keep the home free from serious damp and mould. You have the right to report it, the right to a written response, and, where the landlord has failed to act inside a reasonable time, the right to claim compensation through a housing disrepair claim. You may have a claim, call us free on 0800 030 4669.
This is not a "courtesy" the landlord can ignore. It is law.
The legal basis
Three pieces of legislation matter most:
- Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, applies to almost all tenancies in England and Wales. The landlord must keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling, and keep in working order the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and water heating. Damp coming through the roof, walls, or windows is a structural repair issue.
- Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, applies to almost all residential tenancies in England. The home must be fit for human habitation for the entire tenancy. Mould is explicitly listed as a hazard. If the home is not fit, the tenant can take the landlord to court.
- Awaab's Law (in force 27 October 2025), applies to social landlords in England. Where a damp or mould hazard could affect tenants' health or safety, the landlord must:
- For an emergency hazard, investigate and make the home safe within 24 hours
- For a significant hazard, investigate within 10 working days, complete the safety work within 5 working days of that investigation ending, and send the tenant a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation
In Wales, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 does the same job, every occupation contract includes a "fitness for human habitation" fundamental term and the Welsh fitness regulations list damp and mould among 23 prescribed hazards.
What "damp and mould" includes
Black mould on walls, ceilings or window reveals. Persistent condensation that the property cannot dry out. Penetrating damp from a failed roof, gutter, downpipe or wall. Rising damp from missing or breached damp-proof courses. Plaster bubbling or paint flaking from wet walls. Belongings going mouldy in cupboards or wardrobes. Musty smell that does not clear with ventilation.
If the landlord blames "lifestyle", too much washing, not enough ventilation, that defence is much weaker than it used to be. The courts and independent rulings have repeatedly held that the landlord must investigate before blaming the tenant.
What you must do
To trigger the landlord's duty, the landlord has to be on notice. That means you have to tell them, and you need to be able to prove you told them. The minimum:
- Report in writing. Portal, email or letter. Phone calls alone do not count.
- Describe what you see. Rooms affected, when it started, how severe.
- Send photographs, dated, with the room visible.
- Flag any health impact. Especially for children, older people, people with asthma, COPD, eczema, or anyone immunosuppressed. A doctor's letter strengthens this hugely.
- Keep every reference and response.
Use our letter builder to produce a clean, dated complaint that starts the landlord's formal clock.
What the landlord has to do
- Investigate. Sending a contractor to look is the minimum. Not "wait and see".
- Fix the cause, not just the symptom. Wiping mould off and painting over it is not a repair. The cause, leak, structural defect, ventilation defect, insulation defect, has to be addressed.
- Stay in touch. You should get a written response within the landlord's published complaints timescales.
- Move you if needed. If the home is genuinely uninhabitable while repairs are done, the landlord should arrange temporary accommodation.
If the landlord ignores you
- Use the formal complaints procedure, Stage 1, then Stage 2.
- Consider a housing disrepair claim. Where the landlord has failed to act inside a reasonable time after being told, you may be entitled to repairs being ordered by the court and compensation. Call us free on 0800 030 4669.
The limitation period for disrepair claims is 6 years.
Compensation
Awards typically combine a percentage of rent paid for the affected period (often 25 to 50%) with general damages for inconvenience, distress and health impact, plus the cost of replacing damaged belongings. Most social-housing damp and mould cases settle in the £3,000 to £15,000 range; more where there is documented serious health impact or the failings have continued for years. See our full guide on how much compensation for damp and mould.
Get help
If you have damp or mould that your landlord has not fixed, call Support for Tenants on 0800 030 4669 for a free assessment. We are a regulated company, not a law firm, we connect tenants with solicitors who run housing disrepair cases on a no-win-no-fee basis.
Sources: Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk); Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 (legislation.gov.uk); Awaab's Law: guidance for social landlords, GOV.UK.
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 17 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only and not guaranteed; every case is different.
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