In our study with Sustainable Homes, Breaking the Mould investigated the causes of damp and mould from a sample of stock managed by social landlords. It sheds the light on how various contributing factors interact to raise or lower the probability – and severity – of mould occurring.

The research challenges the assumption that resident behaviour change is the key solution for tackling damp and mould in homes and looks into more detail at factors including landlord response, ventilation and occupant density.

The Breaking the Mould study features:

• Why was it undertaken
• What did we do - Data was collected from a sample of 260 homes across the UK from two housing associations and two local authorities
• What did we find - Research found that nearly 1/2 of the homes studied showed mould levels varying from slight to very severe.
• Where moisture could be coming from
• Potential ventilation methods
• Cold bridging and the solutions
• Why landlords need to do more and the key actions they should be taking
• What are the implications for landlords