Hull: A Dry City With Damp Homes. Mould in Terraced Rentals Explained

Hull is one of the drier places in our Yorkshire data, and by far the most terraced. The Met Office station in the city recorded 693 mm of rain a year across 1991 to 2020, against 1,057 mm at Bingley, near Leeds and Bradford. Yet 46.7% of homes in the Kingston upon Hull local authority area are terraces, double England's 23.0% and more. If your Hull rental has mould, the weather is rarely the main suspect.

When the building, not the rain, is the problem

Victorian terraces near the old docks and the interwar and post-war housing further out share a common weakness: they were built to standards that predate modern insulation and, in the oldest streets, modern damp-proof courses. The city's low-lying position adds a groundwater factor that can aggravate rising damp where the course has failed or never existed. Rising damp is over-diagnosed nationally, so a survey matters: tide-marks at the base of a wall point one way, mould in the corners of a bedroom another.

With little rain to blame, condensation is often the answer. Terraces with few openings, single-skin extensions and kitchens that vent nowhere trap moisture, and the cold external walls give it somewhere to settle.

Hull in numbers

• Households: about 115,000. Private renting 23.9% (England 20.5%); social renting 27.0% (England 17.1%).
• Terraced homes: 46.7%. Flats: 14.4%, against 21.4% in England.
• No central heating: 1.8% of households, against 1.5% in England. Overcrowding: 3.6%, against 4.4%.
• Flood risk: 1.5% of properties at medium or high risk from rivers and the sea (England 1.9%) and 2.9% from surface water (England 5.9%).
• Rainfall: 693 mm a year at the Hull station, one mile away.

These are local authority figures from the 2021 Census, the Environment Agency and the Met Office. Adding the 23.9% and 27.0% together, just over half of Hull's households rent, so the condition of rented homes shapes the city's damp record more than it does in most places.

A practical order of work for landlords

1. Identify the type of damp. Condensation, penetrating damp and rising damp each need a different remedy, and the wrong one wastes money.
2. Fix ventilation first in kitchens, bathrooms and any room where washing dries.
3. Check the damp-proof course and external ground levels on older properties; render or paving built up above the course lets moisture bridge it.
4. Only then clean, treat and redecorate, so the mould does not simply grow back.

Duties and Awaab's Law

Hull's 27.0% social renting share means Awaab's Law already matters here: since 27 October 2025 social landlords in England must investigate significant damp and mould within 10 working days and treat emergencies within 24 hours. Private landlords are bound by the Housing Act 2004 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 today. The extension of Awaab's Law to private tenancies is provided for by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, consultation closes on 18 December 2026, and no start date is confirmed. Read more on our private rented sector page.

Hull help and advice

Hull City Council offers damp, mould and condensation advice for private landlords. To commission a survey or remediation, compare specialists covering Hull on MouldPros.