Show up for residents before they have to complain.
Housing officers, tenancy managers, and complaint handlers are the people residents speak to. MouldWatch tells your team a home is getting damp before the resident has to call, and gives them no-blame words for the conversation that follows.
The Housing Ombudsman calls it "zero tolerance": no blaming the resident's "lifestyle" or "behaviour". It first said so in its 2021 Spotlight report, and said it again in an open letter to landlords in November 2022, after Awaab Ishak's death. MouldWatch's workflow and resident templates are built around that instruction.
How a case runs, from the resident's side.
- 01
The risk is spotted before the resident sees it.
MouldWatch flags conditions weeks before visible mould, so your team can contact the household before there's anything to complain about.
- 02
The first conversation starts with a question.
"We've noticed signs that your home could be starting to get damp. Would now be an OK time to come round and take a look?"
- 03
Vulnerability is taken at face value.
If the resident mentions a child with asthma, an elderly parent, or a respiratory condition, it goes on the case straight away, with no request for medical evidence. MHCLG's Awaab's Law guidance says to take vulnerability at face value, and the workflow is built that way.
- 04
The resident can see where their case is.
A short, plain-English update on what was found, what happens next, who is coming, and when, sent the way the resident asked to be contacted.
- 05
We fix the cause, not just wipe the surface.
We deal with the real cause - ventilation, insulation, a leak, or a design fault. Then the sensors confirm the home has settled. If the problem comes back, the case re-opens automatically.
What to stop saying, and what to say instead.
The Ombudsman's 2021 spotlight was titled "Damp and mould: it's not lifestyle." MouldWatch builds that into the templates your team uses.
"It looks like a lifestyle issue."
"The readings suggest the ventilation is under-specified for how the home is being used. That is a building issue, and it is on us to fix."
"You need to open your windows more."
"We will look at the extractor fan, the trickle vents, and the insulation in the corner. The data is pointing at ventilation."
"There's no mould in your home."
"There is no visible mould yet, but the risk signal is rising. Let's sort the cause before we get to the visible stage."
"We need medical evidence of your condition."
"Thank you for telling us. That is now on the case and your home is being prioritised."
The most vulnerable households go to the top of the queue.
MouldWatch lets resident-facing teams record vulnerability simply: children under five, elderly residents, respiratory conditions, mobility limitations, pregnancy. The queue, the triage, and the investigation template all use it, and reports show the wider pattern, such as how many at-risk homes have a young child or someone with a respiratory condition.
It's recorded at face value, without asking for medical proof, so your team never has to ask awkward questions.
Residents can see what you see.
If you choose to switch it on, residents get free access to their own home's readings - the same data your team sees, with alerts on their own phone and the ability to log what they've done, like running the extractor fan or opening a window after drying clothes. Their actions join the same property record.
When the resident sees the same numbers as your team, nobody has to argue about whose fault the damp is, and a nudge they act on themselves can save a visit. Alerts are designed to arrive with plain what-to-do guidance.
You decide whether to offer it to every home, to a pilot group, or not at all.
- Their own home's temperature, humidity, and risk state - nothing about anyone else's.
- Plain-language alerts with what-to-do guidance, on their own phone.
- A way to log their own actions, so the record shows what they did as well as what you did.
Letters, texts, and call scripts for every stage of a case.
Every MouldWatch workflow ships with resident communication templates: the first contact after a risk alert, the investigation scheduling, the written summary within three working days, the remediation scheduling, the post-fix confirmation.
They're written in plain English with no blame on the resident, and your team can edit every one, so tenancy officers start from a working draft.
A working session for your housing officers and complaints team.
60 minutes. Walk the resident journey, read the templates, and talk through the vulnerability workflow. Bring your real language. We'll show where the product strengthens it and where it gets out of the way.