Southend-on-Sea Damp and Mould: Seafront Conversions, Flats and HMOs

More than a third of Southend-on-Sea's homes (34.4%) are flats, against 21.4% across England, and 26.5% of households rent privately, against 20.5%. Much of that stock is older: Victorian and Edwardian seafront guesthouses and villas converted into flats and HMOs. Conversions bring their own damp problems, because a building designed for one use has been adapted to another.

Southend-on-Sea in numbers (compared with England)

• Private rented households: 26.5% (England 20.5%); social rented: 11.5% (England 17.1%)
• Terraced homes: 17.0% (England 23.0%); flats: 34.4% (England 21.4%)
• Homes with no central heating: 1.4% (England 1.5%)
• Overcrowded households: 4.2% (England 4.4%)
• Properties at medium or high flood risk: rivers and sea 0.5% (England 1.9%); surface water 4.4% (England 5.9%)
• Rainfall: about 527 mm a year at Shoeburyness, roughly five miles away

Why are conversions prone to damp?

A large guesthouse split into flats can end up with kitchens and bathrooms in rooms that were never designed for them, extraction that is missing or ducted badly, and old solid walls with an unreliable damp-proof course. Upper flats depend on roofs, parapets and gutters that are shared. Before blaming a tenant, check:

• Whether every kitchen and bathroom has working mechanical extraction
• Whether the cause is in a shared roof, gutter or wall rather than inside the flat
• Whether the heating suits the size and exposure of the flat

A low-rainfall, exposed coastline

Rainfall at the nearest station is about 527 mm a year, which is low, and river and sea flood risk is well below England. Even so, seafront buildings are exposed to wind-driven rain, and the district-wide flood figures are not street-level, so check individual addresses on the Environment Agency's flood map.

HMOs and heavy occupancy

Overcrowding is 4.2%, a little below England's 4.4%, but HMOs concentrate occupants in a single building. If you let a converted property as an HMO, check your licensing position with the council in addition to your damp and mould duties.

What landlords must do

Private landlords in England must already meet the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, which requires a home to be fit for habitation throughout the tenancy, and councils can act on damp and mould hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Awaab's Law currently applies to social housing, with private landlords expected to follow.

Our guide to Awaab's Law and the private rented sector explains what to expect.

To find a specialist, see our Southend-on-Sea damp and mould page, and the council's advice for private tenants.