It’s been a challenging time for social housing landlords during the COVID pandemic, especially with vulnerable residents shielding, making home repairs difficult. At the same time, landlords have seen a rise in disrepair claims made through the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.
Airtech
Meanwhile, the Housing Ombudsman is investigating damp and mould issues, recognizing the particularly significant impact both can have on vulnerable residents and those with respiratory problems. Landlords have a duty of care to residents, which has become even more important with COVID. But with restrictions now lifted, social housing providers will be pleased to know companies like Airtech Solutions can help them rid their properties of mould permanently. And as we enter condensation and mould season, now is the time to address any existing problems or put in preventative measures.
Condensation and mould can wreak havoc on both housing stock and residents’ respiratory heath. These twin blights lead to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) which can have health consequences for households, made even more serious by the Coronavirus pandemic, which adversely affects those with existing health conditions. It’s therefore vital for landlords to deal with it to help protect vulnerable residents and comply with the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. Many landlords have been trying to catch up with a backlog of maintenance work, including dealing with condensation and mould problems. However, the clock is ticking for landlords as the weather cools in the UK making residents more likely to keep windows closed, eliminating natural ventilation and allowing condensation to thrive.
Airtech can help landlords meets their duty of care by offering comprehensive property surveys to identify condensation, damp and mould problems and recommendations to solve the issues; mould removal treatment and redecoration, and a full ventilation installation service for both responsive and planned maintenance. The treatment and mould removal are backed by a unique three-year guarantee that the mould will not return.
“Effective ventilation is essential to prevent the formation of condensation and mould and to provide residents with good IAQ to protect their health. At Airtech we offer landlords the right solution for each property all backed up by a unique ‘no return’ guarantee to give both landlords and households peace of mind”, explains Tom Wodcke, Product Manager at Airtech. “Condensation and mould can be a persistent and costly problem for social housing landlords but we can help break the cycle and ensure they meet their duty of care and provide healthy homes for residents.”
Boasting patented market-leading ventilation technology that improves resident comfort and efficiency, Airtech can offer landlords the correct solution for individual properties. This can range from the Air+ Loft Positive Input Ventilation (PIV) and Air+ Wall PIV units to the environment sensing bathroom and kitchen fans, such as the SA25 SELV, the SA60 SELV and the SA64. Plus, Airtech’s unique control and datalogging ventilation products, the DataFan range including the DA25, DA60 and DA64, will record details of a home’s environment, such as humidity and temperature levels to allow the landlord or contractor to track and analyse the correlation of these variables together on one graph. This will allow a landlord to clearly track the effects changing lifestyle habits have on a home environment. It will also demonstrate how reducing relative humidity through adequate heating and ventilation can maintain a healthy home. Airtech’s sophisticated datalogging allows landlords to interrogate saved IAQ data thus giving peace of mind.
Hand-in-hand with the datalogging, Airtech’s specialist control platform monitors the data as it is collected and modulates the fan accordingly to react automatically and proportionally to rising humidity levels, offering quick and effective humidity control. This ensures the resident keeps the optimum environment in the home to avoid condensation forming, thus helping maintain good IAQ.
Airtech also runs free CPD training courses to help landlords understand the difference between damp and mould, health implications, causes and consequences as well as solutions and datalogging. This training helps ensure landlords know how to break the cycle of condensation and mould, thus protecting both residents and their housing stock. Airtech also supplies free mould information leaflets when working with a social housing provider so residents understand why they should not dry washing indoors or pile clothes or other items against an external wall. Plus, Airtech provides a Freephone customer care helpline for residents to seek advice on its ventilation products.
