New CAS report on damp and mould
19th August 2025CAS’ Social Justice team has published “Left in the cold”, a new report on damp and mould.
“Left in the cold” looks at evidence from across the Citizens Advice network in Scotland and demonstrates the real life impact that living in damp and mouldy homes has on people. We found that energy inefficiency is causing harm to many people in Scotland by driving up fuel poverty and poverty as a whole; undermining housing security; contributing to poor health; and damaging homes, furniture, and other belongings.
The report makes a number of key policy recommendations:
- A mix of awareness-raising and training is needed to support all tenures to improve energy efficiency.
- Scottish Government and local authorities should develop harsher penalties for landlords who attempt to evict tenants for reporting a repair. More specifically, there must be strengthened enforcement against landlords who unreasonably and repeatedly refuse to address issues such as damp and mould.
- Scottish Government should guarantee the delivery of the affordable homes target of 110,000 new homes by 2032.
- COSLA should facilitate the urgent sharing of good practice for treating damp and mould across local authorities.
- Scottish Government should look at ways of expanding funding for local authorities to carry out repairs.
- Scottish Government should maintain its current grants and loans offers for energy efficiency and keep this under review as new measures progress.
We would like to convey our thanks to advisers across the network who highlighted these cases, and for the depth of detail which allowed us to write this report. We will share this report with decision makers in local and national Government to inform their thinking as we move towards the final stage of consideration for the Housing Bill, as well wider work looking at housing quality and standards. Please feel free to share this report widely among your network.
