Council offers help to landlords dealing with damp

The council will give out specialist equipment, including data loggers to track humidity levels and temperature changes

A council offering support to landlords dealing with condensation, damp and mould in properties says it has never before seen problems of "this size and scale".

Breckland Council’s Healthy Homes Service will provide guidance to both landlords and tenants - and help diagnose issues with specialist equipment.

But failure to work with the council could lead to penalty fines, the council said.

Sarah Suggitt, Conservative councillor for housing and planning, said: "This isn't something where we're saying that all landlords are rogue and that all tenants are bad."

The council's housing team can provide equipment, including data loggers, to track humidity levels and temperature changes in homes to diagnose specific issues.

Landlords can also be issued with improvement notices to tell them how they can fix issues in their properties.

The scheme has been funded by the previous Conservative government to improve living conditions

Ms Suggitt said: "We need to really understand property types, living habits and maintenance regimes."

The new service has been funded by the previous Conservative government to help improve living conditions for tenants and support local landlords.

The housing team has undergone training to understand how issues with condensation, damp, and mould appear, and how they affect residents.

However, Ms Suggitt said the issues were "not unique to Breckland".

"Our housing team are having to face some really difficult conversations with residents every day around their living circumstances," she said.

The Borough Council of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk also received funding as part of the scheme and was hoping to get their own support programme up and running.