Updated: 22 May 2023
Damp and mould in buildings are caused by excess moisture. This moisture can be caused by a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, leaking pipes, poor ventilation, rising damp, excessive condensation, rain seeping in because of damage to the roof or window frames.
If you have damp or mould, it is extremely important to find out why you have excess moisture in your home. We urge anyone residing in any of our properties to REPORT issues of mould or damp to us immediately. Once we know what is causing the issue, we can RESOLVE it.
Our key principles
Alongside major physical investment, Torus has adopted several strategies as part of our approach to prevent damp and mould to get the right outcomes for our customers. These include, but are not limited to:
- Creating sustainable tenancies and communities by doing more maintenance on empty (void) properties to ensure they are comfortable and safe which includes works in place to mitigate the risk of occurrence of damp and mould
- A data led priority model has been created which uses a variety of factors to give leading indicators around the number of properties with the potential to be at risk of damp and mould issues
- Further strengthening our complaints processes by working with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code
- Increasing the number of in-house trained damp and mould surveyors
- Providing training to HMS operatives to enable them to spot signs of damp and mould and understand the causes and remedies of these. Enabling them to conduct maintenance to prevent the occurrence of issues
- Increasing our presence in neighbourhoods to help our operatives to better understand our customers and the challenges they face
- Increasing the use of our data models to gain visibility of where the priority properties are and where resources need to be targeted
More information regarding our approach can be found in our updated Damp and Mould Policy.
When YOU REPORT issues of damp and/or mould to us this is the process WE will undertake to help RESOLVE the issue:
- We WILL conduct a visit to your property within 10 working days
- We WILL check for any un-diagnosed leaks
- We WILL consider whether there is an issue with the fabric of the property that is causing the damp and mould issues
- We WILL determine whether there is a sufficient means of ventilation in the property and, if not, take steps to create appropriate arrangements
- If no resolution has been identified through this process, then a discussion with yourself will be undertaken to agree what support can be provided will be the last step
Throughout this process we will keep in touch with YOU until YOU tell us that you are satisfied, and that the problem has been completely RESOLVED.
If you remain dissatisfied, we will use our complaints process to try to find a way to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.
If you have previously reported problems of damp and mould, but we haven’t resolved the issue to your satisfaction, please contact our customer services team (details below) and ask for your case to be reviewed. We will treat your enquiry as urgent and do our best to resolve the problem as quickly as we can.
Allowing access for appointments!
If you report damp and mould to us, we will conduct a visit to your property within ten working days. This may also result in further visits to conduct works such as anti-fungal washes, which kills and inhibits mould growth. The available dates and times of these appointments will be discussed with you, if an appointment is booked you must be home and allow access for your appointment.
Not going to be in for your appointment? Let us know
It is very important that you let us know if your appointment isn’t convenient, and we will work with you to rebook for a time that suits you better. This can be done by contacting the Torus Customer Hub, details below.
Your cooperation in allowing access is important and is a condition of your tenancy agreement.
We will do our best to work with you if there are special circumstances which may affect access to your home and provide support where appropriate.
How to contact us
The quickest and easiest way to report an issue to us is online. Sign up for online services here to report, track your bookings 24/7.
You can also report issues to us via the Torus Customer Hub:
- Call 0800 678 1894 (Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm, Saturday 8am-12noon)
- Email info@torus.co.uk
- Complete an online form
Details of our updated Damp and Mould Policy can be found here.
For more information on how damp and mould could affect your health please visit the NHS website.
Find out more about Disrepair here.