Students call for Tripadvisor-style website to shame landlords over damp and mouldy homes

University of Bristol students have launched a campaign to fight “dangerous” levels of mould in rented accommodation, claiming unsuitable living conditions impact both mental and physical health. 

A group of students at the University of Bristol’s student newspaper, Epigram, launched its ’Break the Mould’ campaign this month (3 February), calling for a Tripadvisor-style website where students can anonymously review their housing conditions and landlords. 

Livy Naylor, a final year student at Bristol, told the Big Issue she had lived in three houses while at university, “and there’s been issues of damp and mould in every single one of them.” She explained that her “ceiling fell through” due to damp this year, revealing a “metre-high wall of mould” when builders came to address the issue.

Naylor said her household has two dehumidifiers, which are “filling up maybe twice every 24 hours”, while they put the heating on for two hours per day to try to tackle the mould and damp.

Since running the heating, however, she and her housemates “noticed a massive spike in what was being taken from our bills account”, adding that some houses in Bristol have poor “heat efficiency” due to single-glazed windows.

She added that while running heating and dehumidifiers is advised for mould issues, “I don’t think floors fall through, or mushrooms grow in bathrooms, or mould grows up walls a metre high under tiling if it’s just a heating issue, I think it’s more their properties aren’t kept in good enough condition.”

Naylor, the managing director of Epigram, said the newspaper’s co-editor-in-chief Annie McNamee had the initial idea for the Break the Mould campaign, and launching it had been a “collaborative effort” from about 30 students on the paper. 

The student newspaper first launched a survey to investigate the issue with students, which led to the idea of the TripAdvisor-style review website. 

Survey data collected by Epigram revealed 93% of students have experienced mould or damp in their house, with a “concerning” 60% of students saying they had experienced health issues as a result of mould at university. 

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More than a third (38%) of students with mould problems claimed the issue is yet to be addressed by their landlord. 

“I think at the moment it’s really hard to know whether you’re going to have a good landlord, or whether the property is kept in good condition… and most students are left with such poor living conditions,” Naylor said, explaining that the proposed review website could help students avoid accommodation with serious mould problems.

“Hopefully, by having this kind of system of accountability, it puts pressure on agencies and landlords to keep properties in better condition and improve living standards for students.”

She added that some students were “nervous” to speak out about their experiences for fear of a negative reaction from their landlords or letting agencies, but many had revealed they had struggled with health issues exacerbated by mould and damp. 

“When you’re in damp, mouldy, cold conditions, it’s really hard to recover when you’re dealing with freshers’ flu or colds or any sort of illness,” she said. “It does impact your mental health as well. We’ve had reports of people saying they don’t want to be at home, people spending hours in the library to avoid going home.”

“We’ve had reports of mould growing on people’s mattresses. Last year, my housemate went away for Christmas for two weeks, he came back and there was mould growing on his bed sheets,” she added.

Naylor explained that while the campaign focused primarily on Bristol students’ experiences, mould and damp in accommodation is a “wide student issue”, as well as affecting renters in general. 

“This is a massive issue. Up and down the country students are paying thousands of pounds in rent every year and living in the most awful conditions… There is definitely scope for policy to be made to improve the right of renters and for greater accountability measures for landlords and letting agencies,” she said. 

Students deserve ‘basic dignity of homes which keep them safe’

The students also launched a petition to “hold landlords accountable for dangerous student living conditions”, which has reached almost 300 signatures. 

“Combined with rising rents, and the stress of finding one of these expensive, poorly maintained properties, it is no wonder so many students have such a negative experience in the rental market,” the petition reads. 

McNamee added that since coming up with the idea for Break the Mould, she had heard stories from fellow students of “mould in shoes, on bags, mushrooms growing on window sills, entire ceilings falling in, and landlords being at best negligent, and at worst actively antagonistic.”

“No one should pay £750 a month for a single room which is making them physically sick, and I want to be the start of proper change in the right direction,” she explained.

“Students, like everyone, deserve the basic dignity of homes which keep them safe, not infect their bodies. That is why we are fighting to Break the Mould, and we are certain that the community will be behind us.”

Charity Asthma + Lung UK explained that living in “damp, poor quality housing is a serious health risk for everyone, and particularly for people living with lung conditions”.

“Damp and mould can increase the risk of chest infections, colds and flu, which can aggravate chronic lung conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), putting people at risk of life-threatening flare-ups,” Emma Rubach, head of health advice at the charity, told the Big Issue.

“It’s important to get rid of mould as quickly as possibly – not only can it exacerbate symptoms in those who already have illnesses like asthma or COPD, but long-term exposure to mould can cause lung conditions like asthma in previously healthy individuals.”

Lucy Pears, student living officer at Bristol Students’ Union (SU), told the Big Issue that it is “fantastic to see Bristol students leading the charge on such an important issue”. 

“In my role as student living officer, I regularly hear from students struggling with persistent mould problems. But you don’t need to be in this role to know how widespread and damaging this issue is for students,” Pears said. 

“It’s unacceptable that students are still living in these conditions. That’s why I’m so pleased to see Break the Mould tackling this situation and I look forward to partnering with them going forward on with Bristol SU.”

Pears said Bristol SU is launching a housing advice service later this term to provide students with free support on housing issues, while she has been working to lobby for stronger protections for student renters as part of the Renters’ Rights Bill. 

Alex Stanley, vice president of higher education at the National Union of Students UK, added to the Big Issue that mould and damp are a “horrifyingly common occurrence in student accommodation”, an issue which is “unacceptable”. 

“We need to get rid of the expectation that student accommodation will be bad, and students are just supposed to suffer that. We already pay so much for our education, we should not have to pay with our health as well,” Stanley said. 

“I am pleased to see students holding landlords accountable where the law is failing them. This is part of a broader landscape of student activism to improve renting for students. Together, we have been campaigning to ensure the Renters’ Rights Bill will include students, and so far we have managed to get two student-friendly amendments passed in the House of Commons.”

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