Liverpool Damp and Mould: Terraced Rentals, Heating Gaps and Rising Complaints

In Liverpool, 26.1% of households rent privately and a further 26.4% rent from a social landlord, so just over half of all households have a landlord. Add the fact that 37.9% of homes are terraced, against 23.0% across England, and it is clear why damp and mould is one of the city's defining housing issues.

Liverpool in numbers

• Private rented households: 26.1% (England 20.5%); social rented: 26.4% (England 17.1%)
• Terraced homes: 37.9% (England 23.0%); flats: 22.4% (England 21.4%)
• Homes with no central heating: 2.3% (England 1.5%)
• Overcrowded households: 3.5% (England 4.4%)
• River or sea flood risk: 0.5% (England 1.9%); surface-water risk: 4.8% (England 5.9%)
• Rainfall: about 824 mm a year at Crosby, roughly seven miles away

Terraces, solid walls and thin ventilation

Liverpool's private rented stock is dominated by early-to-mid 20th-century terraces and inter-war semis, much of it with solid walls and limited cavity insulation. Solid walls are cold on the inside in winter, and where extractor fans are missing or weak the moisture from cooking and bathing settles on them. That is the textbook route to condensation mould, and it is a landlord-fixable one: working extraction, adequate heating and insulation are all within a landlord's control.

Why 2.3% without central heating matters

That figure is higher than for any other North West city we profile, and well above the England rate of 1.5%. A home with no fixed heating relies on portable heaters, which add moisture if they burn gas or paraffin and leave unheated rooms cold enough for condensation. Landlords should treat the absence of central heating as a damp risk in its own right.

Complaints have risen sharply

Reported analysis of council data puts damp and mould complaints at 3,566 in 2022 and 6,947 in 2025, close to double in three years. Whatever the exact count, the direction is clear: tenants are reporting more, and councils are expected to respond. Liverpool City Council's private housing team can inspect under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System where a landlord has failed to act.

What landlords must do

The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires a rented home to be free from serious damp. In practice that means investigating promptly, fixing the cause rather than painting over mould, and keeping a record of what was done and when.

Awaab's Law currently applies to social housing, which is over a quarter of Liverpool households, and the government has said private landlords will follow. Our guide to Awaab's Law and the private rented sector explains the current position.

To find a specialist, see our Liverpool damp and mould page, and read the council's guidance for renters.