Moldy Houses: Is It Time for Cathy You Can’t Come Home Yet? | Letters

Your article on moldy houses (Crack down on moldy houses in England or more will die, doctors’ association warns, January 10) implies that there is currently no law to tackle damp and moldy houses. That is wrong: local authorities already have a duty to deal with such properties Housing Act 2004.

Moisture and mold are one of the dangers in the home. If there is a serious risk of imminent harm to the residents, the municipality can take emergency measures to address the problem and impose a fine on the owner or prohibit occupancy of the property. The problem is primarily the lack of resources. If Michael Gove were serious about tackling this scandal, he would provide resources to local authorities and their environmental health officers to tackle this growing problem. That could happen much faster than any new law (which still needs to be enforced).
Dr. Stephen Battersby
Vice President, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

Following the letters about TV productions that changed history (January 14), we watched the end of Call the Midwife on Sunday and saw a social housing tenant in a room full of mold, and children with health complications.

This program takes place in the 1960s, but in 2024 our social housing is no better. As a volunteer for a local charity and a trainee housing expert, I find it astonishing to think that nothing has improved in the last sixty years and that landlords still blame tenants. We need an updated version of Cathy Come Home – perhaps Cathy You Can’t Come Home Yet – until unaffordable rents, no-fault evictions and the rampant mold in public housing are resolved. Maybe in another 60 years?
French Turner
Milford by the Sea, Hampshire