Landlord Obligations for Damp and Mould: HHSRS Explained

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is the framework English councils use to assess hazards in rented (and some other) housing, including damp and mould. Understanding it helps both tenants pushing for repairs and landlords trying to stay compliant.

How HHSRS assesses damp and mould

Rather than a simple pass/fail, HHSRS assesses the likelihood of harm and how serious that harm could be, producing a hazard rating. Hazards rated as the most serious are classed as Category 1; less severe ones as Category 2. Councils have a legal duty to take action where a Category 1 hazard is identified in a property, which can include formal improvement notices requiring the landlord to carry out specific work within a set timeframe.

What assessors look at

• The extent and type of damp or mould present.
• How it affects ventilation, humidity, and the likely health impact on occupants, particularly vulnerable groups (young children, older people, anyone with a respiratory condition).
• The underlying cause — structural, ventilation-related, or otherwise — since this affects both the assessment and what remedial action is required.

What councils can do

• Improvement notices requiring specific repair work within a set timescale.
• Prohibition orders restricting use of part or all of a property if a hazard is serious enough.
• Emergency remedial action, where the council carries out urgent work itself and recovers the cost from the landlord, in the most serious cases.
• Civil penalties or prosecution for landlords who don’t comply with formal notices.

For social housing tenants specifically

Awaab’s Law (see our full explainer) sits alongside HHSRS and gives social housing tenants a more direct route: fixed statutory timescales a landlord must meet once damp and mould presenting a significant risk of harm has been reported, rather than relying solely on a council inspection and enforcement process.

For private tenants

See our guide on what to do if your landlord won’t fix damp for the practical steps, including how to get your council’s environmental health team involved.