Delay on clearing mouldy council homes backlog
BBCHundreds of households are still waiting for work to address mould and damp, despite a council's pledge to deal with the backlog.
Newcastle City Council inherited more than 1,800 damp and mould reports from management organisation Your Homes Newcastle, which was abolished last July.
It had pledged to deal with the backlog by this month, but despite appointing extra contractors, 491 reports are still outstanding, the authority confirmed.
A spokesman for the council said all affected tenants would be contacted by the end of April to arrange repairs, but added it had been experiencing problems with residents not responding to allow access to their property.
The authority, which took over control of about 25,000 properties from Your Homes Newcastle, had pledged to deal with the backlog at a rate of 50 homes per week.
The build-up of problems was among the issues cited by the Regulator of Social Housing as it warned of "serious failings" in the city council's housing stock in a judgement earlier this year and ordered the council to make improvements.
New rules planned
The Labour-run council's cabinet would be asked to sign off a new repairs policy next week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
It includes a pledge to respond to emergency housing hazards, including those related to damp and mould, within 24 hours.
A Newcastle City Council spokesman said the changes would help "to better meet the needs of our vulnerable residents" and adopt a "more flexible approach".
They added: "We've also commissioned an external contractor to complete a stock condition survey to be sure that all of our properties meet the Decent Homes Standard and ensure that we have up to date information about their condition."