In short: It depends on the cause, but the legal starting point has shifted firmly toward landlord responsibility. If damp or mould stems from disrepair, a leaking roof, faulty guttering, rising damp, penetrating damp, or inadequate insulation, it’s your legal obligation to fix it under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, and you must now act promptly once notified. Simple condensation from everyday living (steam, drying clothes indoors) with no underlying structural cause is more of a shared/tenant-behaviour issue, but you still can’t ignore it, especially if poor ventilation or an inadequate heating system is a contributing factor.
Two different problems that look the same
“Damp and mould” covers at least two legally distinct situations:
- Disrepair-caused damp: rising damp from a failed damp-proof course, penetrating damp from a leaking roof or defective guttering/render, plumbing leaks, or mould driven by poor insulation and cold, uninsulated walls that cause persistent condensation regardless of how the tenant lives. This is squarely a landlord repairing obligation.
- Lifestyle/ventilation condensation: mould that appears mainly because of how the property is used, drying laundry indoors on radiators, not using extractor fans, blocking trickle vents, keeping windows permanently shut in a poorly ventilated flat. Here, tenant behaviour is a genuine contributing factor, though a landlord can’t simply blame the tenant and walk away if the property’s ventilation or heating provision is itself inadequate.
In practice most real cases are a mix of both, and if it ends up in front of an environmental health officer or a court, that’s exactly how they’ll assess it, condition of the building first, tenant behaviour second.
Your legal obligations
Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (s.11) implies a repairing covenant into most residential tenancies covering the structure and exterior, and installations for water, gas, electricity, heating and sanitation. If damp is caused by disrepair to any of these, it’s your responsibility to fix once you’re on notice of the problem (and you’re treated as on notice as soon as the tenant tells you, even informally).
Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 goes further: it amended the 1985 Act to require rented homes to be fit for human habitation both at the start of, and throughout, the tenancy, and it explicitly identifies “freedom from damp” as one of the factors relevant to fitness. Unlike the basic repairing covenant, this duty isn’t limited to things that have physically “gone wrong”, a property that is inherently damp because of poor design or insulation can already fail the fitness test even without an obvious “disrepair” event. Tenants can sue for breach of this duty directly, without waiting for the council to get involved.
The council’s yardstick: HHSRS
Local authorities assess housing conditions using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), which sets out 21 prescribed hazards, including damp and mould growth as its own category. Environmental health officers score the property and classify hazards as:
- Category 1 hazards, the most serious, where the council has a legal duty to take enforcement action (e.g., an improvement notice compelling you to fix the problem within a set time, with penalties for non-compliance).
- Category 2 hazards, less severe; the council has discretion over whether to act.
If a tenant complains to the council about mould and an EHO inspects and finds a Category 1 hazard, you will be formally required to fix it, and ignoring an improvement notice is a criminal offence that can also lead to a civil penalty of up to £30,000.
Awaab’s Law is coming to the private sector
Awaab’s Law, introduced in social housing following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged exposure to mould, imposes strict, timed obligations on landlords once a hazard is reported:
- Emergency hazards (e.g., a major leak, dangerous electrics) must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours of the landlord becoming aware.
- Significant hazards (including damp and mould presenting a real risk of harm) must be investigated within 10 working days, with a written summary of findings given to the tenant within 3 working days of the investigation ending, remedial work to make the hazard safe within around 5 working days of that, and any further preventative works completed within a 12-week backstop.
As of mid-2026, this regime is confirmed and being phased in for social housing (first stage from October 2025, expanded further from 30 November 2026 and again in 2027). The government has confirmed it intends to extend an equivalent duty to the private rented sector, but current guidance ties this to the Decent Homes Standard rollout for private landlords, provisionally expected around 2035, so it is not yet a live legal duty for most private landlords as of July 2026. That said, the direction of travel is unmistakable, and many advisers recommend private landlords adopt Awaab’s Law-style response times voluntarily now, both as good practice and to get ahead of the eventual legal requirement.
What this means in practice
- Investigate every mould report properly, don’t assume it’s “just condensation” without checking for leaks, damaged damp-proof courses, or inadequate insulation.
- Document your response, date-stamped photos, contractor reports, and repair records protect you if a dispute later arises.
- Fix ventilation and heating shortfalls, extractor fans that don’t work, missing trickle vents, or heating systems tenants can’t afford to run are all things a court or EHO will hold against you, even if the tenant’s habits are also a factor.
- Communicate with tenants about ventilation (opening windows briefly, using extractor fans, not drying washing on radiators), but frame this as guidance, not as a substitute for fixing genuine building defects.
Related reading
Sources
- Fitness for habitation in rented homes, Shelter Legal England
- Damp and mould problems, Shelter Legal England
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules referenced are accurate to the best of available information as of July 2026 for England unless stated otherwise, this area of law is changing fast, so always check current government guidance (gov.uk) or consult a solicitor before acting, especially on evictions.
Last Updated on September 21, 2026