How JLA’s mould-fighting sanitisers are helping social landlords improve tenant satisfaction

With the first round of tenant satisfaction measures due back with the Regulator of Social Housing this month, many of the UK’s housing association and local authority landlords have been redoubling their efforts to protect and reassure their residents while taking action to minimise damp and mould complaints. 

This renewed focus on tenant safety and satisfaction follows the Government’s commitment to improving social housing conditions in the wake of 2017’s Grenfell disaster, as well as the tragic mould-linked death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in December 2020.

Awaab’s Law – an amendment to the UK’s Social Housing Regulations – came into force in July 2023, and now holds social landlords fully accountable for the service their residents receive. This means landlords must quickly investigate and fix health hazards, including damp and mould, within fixed timescales.

But while landlords are acting faster than ever on damp and mould problems, many of us in the social care and housing sector will be aware that resident claims and complaints are still being made after remediation work is undertaken and completed.

In many of these cases, residents are reporting the continued smell of damp, and, understandably, feeling sceptical about the quality of the repair work undertaken.

Part of the reason for this is that agitated mould releases spores that cause allergies, or because non-visible mould could still be present in a property.

Whatever the cause, it presents a significant challenge to assurance, and could even affect a housing association’s reputation.

So what can be done to help improve the situation, and minimise future claims?

At JLA, we’ve spent 15 years working in disinfection, compliance and testing, and have helped providers across the housing sector to make positive, lasting changes in line with Awaab’s Law.

When it comes to tackling mould and damp in particular, we’ve developed a powerful solution: a range of portable room sanitisers that can be used to enhance a mould cleaning programme, and add an extra layer of assurance to your response.

Just by adding a room sanitising stage to their mould cleaning programmes, customers can achieve better results, improve relations with their residents, and help to protect the all-important satisfaction scores that determine their association funding from the Regulator of Social Housing.

What is JLA’s OTEX ozone room sanitiser?

Using nothing but the natural disinfecting power of ozone gas, JLA’s OTEX ozone room sanitisers kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses, effectively removing the airborne or surface spores that cause bad odours and harmful mould, while simultaneously improving air quality by capturing any pollutants, allergens and other contaminants that might be in the space.

Ozone sanitisation is a chemical-free solution, which makes our sanitiser both environmentally friendly and safe to use in various settings. In fact, the process leaves only a fresh-air scent, with none of the harsh chemical smells or sticky residues you might expect from traditional cleaning methods.

This allows residents to get back into their homes much faster, and offers landlords a fast, effective and convenient way to sanitise their empty properties before new residents move in.

JLA sanitisers meet the strict standards of the EU Biocidal Products Regulation and GB Biocidal Product Regulation framework, making us one of the UK’s only suppliers able to prove that our ozone sanitisers reduce the presence of mould. In recent independent tests, our sanitisers were proven to reduce surface mould spores by 92.4%.

Furthermore, we can offer treatment validation. Air and surface sampling can be undertaken before and after ozone treatment, so that landlords can provide their residents with the reassurance required that the sanitiser has reduced the presence of spores within the room.

For landlords, then, JLA’s ozone sanitisers are actively enhancing deep-cleaning procedures and helping to protect and reassure your residents that mould and damp problems are being resolved.

Our sanitisers offer a proven, cost-effective way to tackle spore in affected properties, and are likely to help landlords avoid costly and time-consuming legal action bought by tenants affected by recurrent damp and mould problems.

For more about JLA ozone sanitisers, please visit jla.com