Council sees rise in uncontactable mould-hit homes

Newcastle City Council said it had been unable to contact 305 homes about their mould issues

The number of homes a council is struggling to contact over previously reported damp and mould issues is rising.

Newcastle City Council inherited more than 1,800 reports from management organisation Your Homes Newcastle, which was abolished last July.

In June, the council said it had failed to make contact with 296 residents about mould and damp problems "despite numerous attempts".

That number had now risen to 305, the council said, due to thousands of "proactive" visits in recent months to people who reported new cases but then failed to respond to contact attempts.

"We are continuing with our procedures to speak to these residents to get their repairs booked in as soon as possible," a spokesperson added.

The authority took control of about 25,000 properties from Your Homes Newcastle last year.

It had pledged to deal with the backlog in damp and mould reports at a rate of 50 homes per week.

The local authority said in addition to the 305 cases it was unable to contact, 104 repairs had been booked in.

It also said in the first quarter of the financial year, it had completed 229 repairs.

The build-up of problems was among the issues cited by the Regulator of Social Housing as it warned of "serious failings" in the city council's housing stock in a judgement earlier this year and ordered the council to make improvements.