Harlow council tenants reporting damp or mould will be triaged on the first call and booked while still on the phone, under a £416,035-a-year HTS team.
Harlow Council is paying its repairs company an extra £416,035 a year to set up a dedicated damp and mould team. The aim is that every case is triaged on the first call and any emergency hazard is dealt with within 24 hours.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Dan Swords, signed the decision on Wednesday 23 September. The money goes to HTS (Property and Environment) Ltd, the council-owned company that carries out repairs to council homes. (Harlow Council, decision 1268)
What changes for tenants
Until now, a damp or mould report has been booked as an ordinary repair. The signed report says that means “different trades operatives being sent to carry out different jobs”, with no specialist looking at the case as a whole. A mould wash could be booked, but anything else had to be booked as a separate repair.
Under the new process, HTS will:
- take damp and mould calls directly from tenants and leaseholders
- triage the case on that first call, with trained staff
- book the appointment while you are still on the phone
- send a dedicated operative to remove any immediate risk and start the work
- pass serious cases to the council’s own damp and mould surveyor
- log every case in real time and track it against the legal deadlines
The process map attached to the decision also includes a temporary move out of the home “if required”, and follow-up checks at three and nine months. A case is closed only if the damp has not come back. (Harlow Council, report and Appendix A)
Why now
The report is candid about the old system. It says cases were “not always identified early”, residents “often need multiple visits”, and some cases were “not being fixed properly the first time”. It warns that doing nothing would mean more complaints and legal claims.
It also names the law. Awaab’s Law has applied to social landlords since 27 October 2025. For damp and mould that poses a significant risk, the government’s guidance sets these deadlines:
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Investigate | within 10 working days |
| Written summary to the tenant | within 3 working days of the investigation |
| Make the home safe | within 5 working days of the investigation |
| Emergency hazards | investigate and make safe within 24 hours |
(GOV.UK, Awaab’s Law guidance for social landlords)
The council considered sending a surveyor to every single case. It rejected that as slower and more expensive. Keeping the current system was ruled out because it “would not meet new legal requirements”.
Where the money goes
Appendix B breaks the £416,035 down. The largest items are:
- two dedicated damp and mould operatives at £50,000 each, £100,000 in all
- a full-time quantity surveyor, £87,555
- a team leader, £75,454, and a site manager, £60,150
- half of a resident liaison partner (£23,967) and half of a call handler (£16,640)
- small shares of an electrical quantity surveyor (£9,211), a managing quantity surveyor (£6,610) and a contracts manager (£6,610)
- a 6% overhead and profit uplift for HTS, £23,366
One line looks odd. Phones, stationery, consumables and protective kit come to £3,236. The appendix adds that sum into its subtotal before the 6% uplift, reaching £412,799. It then adds the same £3,236 again to reach the £416,035 the council approved. On the appendix’s own figures, that is about £3,236 a year counted twice. (Harlow Council, Appendix B)
The cost comes from the Housing Revenue Account, the ring-fenced budget funded by council rents. It is paid as an increase to HTS’s annual service charge. The report says funding from 2027-28 onwards has to be built into next year’s budget and the 30-year housing business plan.
Because HTS is owned by the council, the work goes to it directly without a tender, under the Procurement Act 2023’s exemption for in-house companies. The decision was not a key decision and is not subject to call-in. The council says it will review the new service again in six months.
What it means for you
If you rent from Harlow Council and have damp, condensation or mould, report it early. The council’s repairs page gives two ways to do it:
- phone the Repairs Centre on 01279 446666
- email repairs@htsgroupltd.co.uk
Ask for your repair reference number. If the problem is making anyone in the home ill, or it is spreading fast, say so on the call: that is what the new triage is meant to catch. (Harlow Council, council tenant repairs)
If you rent privately or from a housing association, this change does not cover you. Report damp to your own landlord.
Earlier this month the council said the longest wait for a standard repair had fallen from 270 working days in 2023 to 25. (Harlow Council news, 3 September 2026) For the other council services you might need, see our guides to Harlow council tax bands and bin collection days.
Sources
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